


Dangan Ronpa Reloaded: The Final Exam

by Hinterberry



Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, Dangan Ronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc, New Dangan Ronpa V3: Everyone's New Semester of Killing, Super Dangan Ronpa 2
Genre: Alternate Universe, Canon-Typical Violence, Fan Dangan Ronpa, Fan Killing Game (Dangan Ronpa), Fangan Ronpa, Illustrated, Multi, kind of, specific warnings will be put on the chapters in which they appear
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-31
Updated: 2019-02-07
Packaged: 2019-06-19 03:06:15
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 14
Words: 87,886
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15500946
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hinterberry/pseuds/Hinterberry
Summary: Takes place in a world where the Tragedy never happened.When Ren Yusuke is accepted into the prestigious Hope's Peak Academy as the Ultimate Calligrapher, she can't really bring herself to care.  Personal reasons aside, she's never felt the fervor the rest of the public has towards the school, and after recent events, she can't see herself as ever being apart of one of their world-changing graduating classes.Or, that's what she used to think.  After being kidnapped along with her fifteen future classmates, Ren must shed her usual apathy in order to survive the game of mutual killing they've all been forced into.  What are the secrets behind the facility they're trapped in?  Who hides behind the perpetually grinning mask of Mononeko, their self-designated Overseer?  And why was the killing game created in the first place?  These are the questions Ren her classmates must answer to escape - if they don't kill each other first.Drama!  Bloodshed!  Etcetera!Current Progress: PART ONE: TEA PARTY FOR THE HOPEFUL DEAD (Daily Life)- in progressNext chapter: chapter 15 AND 16 by 3/29 (double update B) )tumblr: gertritude.tumblr.com





	1. You're Invited!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have no idea if people even like to read Fanganronpas (or if they'll even end up reading this one), but I'm posting this anyway!! I haven't written/posted a fanfiction since I was, like, twelve, but I hope whoever reads this likes it! ^_^  
> This chapter is just the prologue of the story, so it doesn't actually feature any of the characters. The two chapters that DO introduce the students are already written, minus a few necessary edits, and will hopefully be posted sometime tomorrow. For now, I hope you enjoy the prologue.

_07 February 20XX_

_Rengetsu Yusuke,_

_Due to your demonstrated talent in the field of calligraphy, we at Hope's Peak Academy are inviting you to attend our school this April as the "Ultimate Calligrapher" of our 88th class._

_Hope's Peak Academy has existed for more than eighty years with the express purpose of taking in talented students and helping them to reach their full potential.  Unlike other schools, Hope's Peak focuses on the individual, allowing them to cultivate their unique talent and graduate as the best in their own particular field. Previous years have yielded many famous and successful alumni from all professions, including the award-winning pop sensation Sayaka Maizono and Olympic gold medalist Akane Owari, and now we are giving you the opportunity to join in their ranks._

_The induction ceremony is on April 17th, although students are allowed to begin moving in as early as April 12th.  Selected students who wish to partake in this educational opportunity are asked to please fill out the included confirmation form by February 19th.  Any questions students may have should be directed to the Hope's Peak Department of Human Relations (address below)._

_We hope to see you at our school._

_Sincerely,_

_Jin Kirigiri_

_Headmaster of Hope's Peak Academy_

**\--ooo--**

14 February 20XX

9:17 AM, Channel XX

"...Breaking news: two more teenagers have been declared missing in what the police have officially declared a string of serial kidnappings.  Since seven AM yesterday morning, a total of ten disappearances have been reported across Japan, all of high school students ranging from fifteen to seventeen years of age.  Originally believed to string of coincidental kidnappings, a recent press statement by Hope's Peak Academy Headmaster Jin Kirigiri has shed some light on the connection between the cases:  '...[the missing teenagers] were all students of the upcoming 88th class [of Hope's Peak Academy]. We have been speaking with the police on this issue... and believe it to be an act against the Academy.'  When asked who the perpetrator was believed to be or their reasons for this retaliation, Kirigiri refused to comment.

"The statement was quickly corroborated with the state police, whose efforts are currently concentrated on rescuing the missing teenagers and protecting those who have not yet been taken.  The lead detective on the investigation, Kyoko Kirigiri, declined to comment.

"The police have refused to release the names of the remaining teenagers, but they have given permission to continue broadcasting the names of those whose disappearance has been confirmed.  The full list of missing students can be found online on our news website, although we will be showing them once again. If you have any information related to the whereabouts of these teenagers, please call the following number: ..."

**\--ooo--**

“Stop here.”

“And I said - What?”

“I said stop here.  Now.”

“Why?  What is it?  Oh, shit, is someone following us?”

“Wait here for a minute.”

“I said, is someone – _what the hell are you doing_?”

“I’ll only take a minute.”

“Time’s not the biggest issue here – oh, great.  Yeah, just leave me alone in the car after spouting that cryptic bullshit.  Lemme turn on the radio while I wait for your face to get recorded by every street camera and store security system around – oh, wait, I can’t, it’s broken.  Not like you care. Not like we have a schedule to meet or anything. Ughhhhhhh. Errrrgghhhh. Aaauuuugghhh – God! Warn me before you go flinging the door open, would ya?”

“I don’t think you would have heard me knock over… whatever that noise was.  I could hear it from outside the car. Start driving again.”

“Yeah, yeah, got it.  I was groaning in frustration, thank you, because you didn’t bother to tell me why you wanted me to stop, and then, continuing the whole trend of not explaining shit, you just left!  I thought we were being followed or something serious like that.”

“I didn’t want to spend any more time there than necessary, so I was going to wait until we were on the road again to explain.”

“Well, gee, thanks for telling me that before you left.”

“I saw this in the window display and wanted to buy it.”

“A… notebook?  You stopped to buy a gaudy notebook?  Are those _rhinestones_?”

“Some of them are actually sequins.  I’m going to use it as a dream diary.”

“Why do you - oh.  …I didn’t know you still got them.”

“It’s why I sleep in a separate room.”

“Here I thought it was just you being your usual stuck-up self… Some friend I am.  But, you know we have paper and notebooks and stuff lying around back at home, right?  You could’ve just used those instead of making me pull over for, uh, that.”

“I didn’t want to use any of them.  I saw this in the shop window and thought it looked nice.”

“A split-second decision, too?  I thought you’d at least planned to stop there…”

“Well, I also said to stop because there was someone following us.”

“What?!”

“Black sedan, two cars behind.  They stopped when we did. Make a left up here; we’ll circle back.”

“Why didn’t you tell me this when I asked?!”

“I was explaining the notebook.  Make another left.”

“Do you even know where you’re going?”

“I’ve never been in this area before.”

“We’re gonna be late, aren’t we?”

“Turn left – no, right.  Probably.”

“You know she’s gonna blame me.  That’s why you’re not freaked out, right?”

“Left, then make a U-turn.”

“Fuck-!”

**\--ooo--**

Later, he brings up the nightmares again – asks her if it’s because of what happened, or if they’re because of what is to come.  It’s such a ridiculous idea that she almost can’t understand him. The nightmares are medical; they’ve known this for ages and ages.  It’s got nothing to do with anything. It’s just another part of herself she couldn’t quite manage to kill.

What he’s really asking, under all the soft sympathy in that slowly darkening car, is does she regret it?

Of course not, she answers.  This is the start of all she’s ever wanted out of life.  How could she ever regret it?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had three drastically different versions of the prologue planned out, but I went with this once just because it was shortest.
> 
> Next time: Ren Yusuke wakes up in a place she doesn't want to be with people she doesn't want to talk to. It's not the worst birthday she's ever had.


	2. The 88th Class, Part One

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A girl named Ren wakes up in a building full of talented teenagers. Who are they, and why are they here?
> 
> TW: drug abuse (mentioned/briefly described)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The students are here - or, half of them, at least. The introductions are split into two chapters since I figured they'd be easier to read than one 15k word behemoth. 
> 
> I came up with the class roster/basic plot for this Fanganronpa in the summer of 2016 - before anything about Danganronpa v3 had been announced - and so there are gonna be a few unintentional similarities between this class and the one from there. Just so you know. 
> 
> This chapter and the one after it are unbeta'd, but hopefully they're still understandable? If anything doesn't make sense, please let me know. For now, I hope whoever reads this likes it!

**PART ZERO: THE KIDNAPPED CLASS OF HOPE'S PEAK ACADEMY**

**\--START--**

 

 

**\--UNKNOWN LOCATION--**

Consciousness came back slowly to Ren Yusuke.  It started in her toes, digits tingling and numb in the cramped space of her shoes, and traveled upward, putting weight to her legs, churning her stomach and forcing her sluggish heart to beat, until it all caught up to her head and she became, once again, herself.

Her first observation: she was lying down on the cheapest, scratchiest carpet she had ever felt in her entire life.  

Her second observation: it was really cold.

Her third observation: there was someone else with her.

She could hear them shuffling about a few feet away from her, accompanied by the grinding noise of metal cabinets opening and closing shut, gentle so as not to slam.  A huff. A pause. The soft step of loud shoes, stopping just beside her shoulder. Clothes rustling, muscles stretching, a person leaning down, getting closer -

"Geddaway," she slurred and threw out her hand, hitting her observer in the middle of their sharp nose.  Cartilage gave under bony finger; there was a thud as the figure yelped - a distinctly non-masculine sound - and fell back against the carpet.  Good. Her space no longer invaded, Ren took the opportunity to push herself up - which, holy shit, huge mistake, she felt like she was gonna vomit - and pry open her heavy eyelids.

**\--FILE ROOM--**

Deep red walls aside, it was probably the plainest room she had ever been in.  It was small and rectangular and mostly empty, with rows of filing cabinets lining the left and right walls and a dingy panel of light on the ceiling, flickering on and off intermittently.  A single steel door was located on the wall opposite of her.

...Where was she?  She'd left the house, she remembered - Michi had promised not to tell - and then she'd been walking outside and -

And then -

And then she'd -

She'd gone to... the library?  Why was it so hard to remember?

Any trail of thought she had managed to grasp slipped away upon the sudden rustling of clothes to her right, prompting Ren to turn and look at her observer proper.  She didn't know what she had been expecting, but it wasn't what she got: a scrawny boy who looked to be around the same age as she, dressed in a patchy outfit of blue and gold and far too many buttons.  The rustling she had heard was his poor attempts at getting off the floor; it took a moment of flailing for him to sit up, crouching on the tips of his pointed shoes as he dusted off the top of what might have been a school uniform.   He looked at Ren. Ren looked back. It took a few seconds of her bleary blinking to finally spring the boy into action. "Oh, you shouldn't be sitting up yet," he scolded, and reached for her shoulder. "Here, let me help you -"

"Geddoffame," Ren huffed, slapping away the hand before it could make contact.  She could hardly stand regular people touching her; there was no way this random guy stood a chance at getting a shoulder grab.  "Whoda-" She paused, rolling her uncooperative tongue around and deciding to take things a bit slower. "Who are you?"

It took the boy a moment to sloppily regain his composure.  "I'm Yuuto," he blurted, and held out his hands. "Yuuto Fukase.  I'm not going to hurt you or anything! I was trying to make sure you were okay, since you just woke up.  It would be better if you didn't sit up right now, though. You've been asleep for a while."

Yeah, she could believe it.  It felt like someone had taken her head and squeezed all the water out of it.  She took her eyes off of Yuuto to try and rub the pounding out from behind them.

"Are you okay?" he asked, once again moving in too close.  "Do you have a headache? I could try to find some painkillers, although I'm not sure where to look."

"I'm fine," Ren muttered.  Mostly she was just thirsty.  "Where are we?"

"Oh, this room?  Um..." He looked around.  "I think it must be some kind of archive or file-storing room, but all the filing cabinets are empty - or, the ones that I could open are empty.  A few of them seem to be locked, but unfortunately, I don't have the key... As for where we are, specifically? I think it's some kind of office building, since it has a reception area right outside here, but I'm not really sure. I've mostly been in this room and the one right next to it, since _someone_ needed to look after you when everyone else went wandering around."

He said the last part in a huff.  Ren looked at him blankly. "Everyone… else," she repeated.

"Oh, um, I'm sorry, I should probably explain... You woke up a little sooner than I thought you would, so I didn't have all the time I needed to figure out how best to say this, but it seems that, you, me, and a lot of other teenagers have been - well, kidnapped.  Do you remember that, at all? Being kidnapped?"

The words tugged at something within her, and suddenly she could grasp what had before been so hard to hold.  She had left the library - had checked out a book she was going to hide under her bed - and then - and then - there had been gloved hands, cold and cracked, snaking around her shoulders and jerking back her head, her feet losing traction, the sound of the library book as it fluttered in the dead air and thudded against cracked pavement.  "Yeah," she said.

"That's what I thought," Yuuto said, nodding.  "I personally don't really remember too much - just someone tugging at my arm when I was out getting groceries.  But, that's not really important, I guess. ...Where was I?"

"You said that a lot of teenagers had been kidnapped, and that we were too."  Which was weird, honestly; Ren didn't watch the news, but her parents did almost religiously, and even if she wasn't allowed to go out, she definitely would have known if her brother had been warned about sudden mass kidnappings of vulnerable teens.  He always complained to her when they got paranoid like that.

"Right!  I'm sorry, I'm just a bit frazzled from the situation.  Anyway, yes, we were all kidnapped, and the next thing that any of us remember is waking up in this building.  I don't know why, but everyone else woke up before you. This one girl, Sayaka, found you sleeping in a storage closet... you, ah, hit your head pretty hard when you fell out of it, I heard, which might be why it took so long for you to wake up.  We just brought you into this room when it seemed like you weren't going to for a while."

A storage closet?  She tried to think, but it was like trying to grasp the memory of a memory: only wisps came back.  The smell of cleaner. Weightlessness. …Red? A reddish-brown? Well, if she had hit her head, that at least explained why she couldn’t remember it.  

Yuuto was still talking, apparently; he had leaned in closer while her guard was down.  "Oh! You don't happen to be a Hope's Peak student, do you?"

Apparently, he had decided to change the subject – or, it had naturally changed, and as usual, she hadn’t cared enough to pay attention.  “I got a letter," she said finally.

He nodded.  "I thought you might say that.  I was asking because we were discussing earlier about why we might have been kidnapped, and as it turns out, everyone here is from the upcoming 88th class.  For example, I was supposed to be the Ultimate Tailor!"

**[YUUTO FUKASE - THE ULTIMATE TAILOR]**

****

His clothing seemed a little too shabby to really qualify for that, but whatever.  "May I ask about who you are, then?" he continued.

"Ren Yusuke.  Ultimate Calligrapher."  Or, that's what the letter had labeled her as, at least.

**[REN YUSUKE - THE ULTIMATE CALLIGRAPHER]**

****

"Ah.  I can see that, from the state of your..." He trailed off, grimacing as he waved his hand at the ink stains on her blouse.  "It must be quite a messy activity. Anyway, it's nice to meet you, Ren. I hope that we're all able to get along, even though we're all stuck in this bad situation."  He frowned. "I mean, I don't know why anyone would want to kidnap us, even if we are Hope's Peak students. I bet it's just someone pulling a nasty prank or something like that."

There were numerous reasons that came to mind, each worse than the last, but Ren didn't really care to list them, especially to someone who was dumb enough to call a kidnapping a "nasty prank."  That, and it was rather difficult to do such thinking at the moment, what with her brain trying to beat its way out of her skull. Instead of dwelling on the oddness of her situation, she turned away from Yuuto's uncertain expression and attempted to push herself up off the ground.

Holy shit.  Two mistakes in a row.  The wave of dizziness that hit her was so great that halfway up she stumbled back, almost cracking her head against the wall.  "Hey, you should have told me you were going to stand up!" Yuuto admonished, grabbing Ren's arm to hold her steady. "I was going to help you up."

Ren responded with a rather weak glare and, biting back the bile in her throat, she shoved him off.  "I don't need your help," she choked.

"It really would be better if you at least grabbed my arm," he complained as she dug her fingernails into the faded wallpaper behind her.  With how much she had started to sweat, it was hard to get any kind of traction, but if she pushed hard enough against the wall then she could - she grit her teeth - finally bring herself into a standing position.  There. She let her hands fall to her sides and sighed when, despite her trembling legs and the swirling of her vision, she remained upright. Standing had never been so hard in her entire life.

Yuuto twitched as he watched her, and although he was far too close to her for her tastes, he at least wasn't trying to touch her anymore.  "We talked about it before you woke up, and we think that whoever kidnapped us probably drugged us," he said, which, yeah, no shit, she could have figured that out on her own.  "Two of the other students had pretty bad reactions to it and are sitting on a couch in the next room over."

"...Are you doing to tell me what that is, or..."

"Oh, um, I mean the reception area - or, well, lobby, I guess - that I mentioned before.  This room is right behind the reception desk."

Reception area?  Were they in an office building, then?  A hotel or something? Did she even really care?  She had to, she guessed, if she was gonna have to be here for more than a few minutes.  

The air in the file room had gotten much too stuffy for her, and as much as she didn't want to, it would probably be best to go and scope out the situation she had wound up in.  She pushed back on the wall and lurched forward, stumbling on the first step and prompting another yelp from Yuuto. "Woah, h-hey!" he exclaimed, reaching out again as she continued her painful trek.  "Um, maybe you shouldn't be walking yet? You only woke up a few minutes ago. I don't even think you should really be standing yet...!"

Ren made it to the door ungrabbed and only barely managed not to crash into it.  She leaned her head up against the cool wood as she came to a stop and tried very, very hard to keep her breathing even.

"What are you trying to do?" he spluttered, hovering near her again.  "You just woke up and you're already going to leave?"

"Yes," she ground out.

"W-well, you should at least wait for me...  It's a rather long distance to walk on your own."

"I can do it by myself."

"Are you sure?  It really would be better if someone went around with you.  You almost fell when you stood up, and you look a little pale."  He frowned. "It might just be better if you sat down and I went and got everyone.  If you want, you can go and sit with those other two students I mentioned until you feel better.  Does that sound okay?"

"No," said Ren.

Yuuto twitched, his eyebrows creasing together for a moment.  "...O-oh, um, I don't really agree with that, but I guess it makes sense that you would want to see where we are."  He straightened up. "In that case, you should really have someone go with you, just to make sure that you're okay and don't faint or anything else horrible like that.  Everyone else is already off somewhere else, and the people in the lobby are in no shape to take you anywhere, so I think that it would be best if I went with you and introduced you to everyone, okay?"

His expression was sincere, and his argument was convincing, especially as Ren felt like complete garbage, what with her heart beating a little too loud in her feverish chest and her vision still being a little bit spotty around the edges.  "No," she said, and left.

**\--THE LOBBY--**

Ren spent her first minute in the lobby with her eyes unfocused as she breathed, perhaps, a bit too harshly through her nose.  She spent the next actually figuring out where she was. Yuuto's basic description of the area was correct, she affirmed. There was indeed a desk in front of her - a receptionist's desk, she decided, although with all the adornments and equipment removed; a cursory examination of the drawers revealed that even they had been completely cleaned out, save for the occasional pencil or paper clip.  Beyond the desk lay a bland, rectangular room, whose walls were decorated with oversaturated red wallpaper and whose floor was covered with the same scratchy carpet as had been in the room behind her. In the center of the opposite wall was a single steel door.

She focused her attention on the left half of the lobby first.  There was a set of double doors right next to the door to the file room, leading out into a plain gray hallway.  In the corner was a fake potted plant and an empty recycling bin, but what mostly drew her attention was the tacky couch against the left wall and the two teenagers who had decided to sprawl out on it.

The boy perched on the arm of the couch stood out to her first, mostly because of the ridiculous hat he was wearing -  a dirty white thing shaped like the head of the rooster, with black button eyes and bright red feathers that sputtered out of its back - but also because he was the one that was talking.  He was pretty good at it, she decided; he threw his whole body into his speech, hands flinging out as far as they were able, leaning in when appropriate, occasionally lifting up his long legs and almost falling back off the sofa.  His voice had an unpleasant, almost scratchy quality to it, but the way he wove together words - the tone, the lilt - compelled Ren to listen. The boy across from him didn't seem to feel this same draw, if his glassy eyes and his fidgeting leg were any indicator.

"And then - oh, hey!" the first boy said, stopping his movement and giving Ren a toothy grin.  "You're awake!"

"Yeah.”

"Yuuto told you about what's going on, yeah?  He’s the guy that was in there, in case he forget to introduce himself.”  In one smooth movement, he drew up a knee and leaned his arm against it. “We're all pretty freaked out, but no one's come to kill us yet, so we've all been looking around and such."  He scratched the back of his neck. "Anyway, I'm Ikki Shibuya, radio host extraordinaire."

**[IKKI SHIBUYA - THE ULTIMATE RADIO HOST]**

****

There was no way that was his real last name.  "I've never heard of you," Ren said.

"I'm on station 86.8?  It plays jazz and blues and stuff - stuff from here and from America?"  He seemed disheartened by her blank stare but continued on anyway. "Eh, well, radio ain't too popular nowadays, yeah?  S'not like anyone on there's gonna be as well-known as, like, a tv dude or whatever. That and, uh..." He paused, his smile turning sheepish.  "Well, I'm mostly just an intern. I only do any radio hostin' when the actual people are sick or can't come in. So, if you ever did listen in, chances are ya've never heard me."

If he wasn't an actual radio host, then it didn't really make sense as to why Hope's Peak had accepted him - unless there was some misunderstanding going on and he was actually the 'Ultimate Radio Intern' or something stupidly specific like that - but whatever.  "Okay..."

"Anyway - you haven't introduced yourself yet, yeah?  It'd be easier to talk if we knew your name."

"Ren Yusuke.  I do calligraphy."

"Calligraphy!" Ikki exclaimed.  "That's pretty neat. I knew a girl that was the head of a club for it, back at my high school, but I never did it or nothin'.  My writing's shit. I guess you could say it’s like chicken scratch. Geddit? Cause of the hat?"

"Shut up," interrupted the boy on the opposite side of the couch.  His voice was thick and his eyes blinked slowly, as though he were waking from a conscious sleep, but his annoyance was still quite clearly conveyed.  "You've been talking the entire goddamn time we've been here, and if you go off on another fuckin’ tangent then I’m gonna rip the feathers offa your chickenshit hat and shove ‘em down your bronchial tubes."

Ikki blinked, lowered his arm (which, previously, had been flapping all over), and leaned back.  "Eh, sorry... I do get carried away a bit, yeah? Hah. I kept talkin' before you could introduce yourself.  My bad. Uh, go ahead."

"Yeah, that's right. _I'm_ talking now."  The other boy blinked for a few moments more, but upon his sluggish eyes landing on Ren, he straightened up and smirked.  "I'm Dai Hirano, Japan's best and youngest snowboarder." He finished his announcement by snorting a thick line of snot back into his nose, breaking what little of a falsely impressive air he had managed to produce.

**[DAI HIRANO - THE ULTIMATE SNOWBOARDER]**

****

It was difficult to match this boy up with the idea of a professional athlete, but Ren tried to imagine a tan returning to his sickly, sweating skin, the golden brown hair that curled away from his face in thick pieces becoming less matted.  He sniffed again; perhaps he had the flu. "I've heard of you," Ren said, although where, she couldn't quite place.

Dai puffed up.  "You've heard of me?  Well - well, hell yeah, you've heard of me!  I was in the 20XX Olympics, and I did fucking amazing in ‘em.  Everyone loved me. Sent those Norwegians crying back to their shitty country when I took all their gold medals."

"Really?" came a nasally voice.  "I thought you had all your medals taken away.  You know, because of the _drugs_?"

"Oi, oi!" Dai snarled, rising slightly from the couch to glare behind Ren at whoever it was that had just spoken.  "What, you wanna fuckin’ start again? Huh?”

“Guys,” Ikki said.

Unfortunately, it was too late to stop Dai’s tirade.  “Are you deaf too? What? I told you before, I was falsely accused.  That shitty Olympic committee didn’t prove anything. They didn't have any real evidence, but they still thought it’d be real fuckin’ funny to take those medals, wrap them around their dicks, and use ‘em to perform a collective jerk off on my entire snowboarding career.  They only investigated 'cause those Americans were jealous that some skinny Japanese kid managed to beat all their shitty snowboarders."

“Oh, I’m sorry.  Here I thought that the investigations began when your teammate literally found you passed out in a public bathroom with a thing of morphine stuck up your arm.”

Oh.  That was where Ren had heard of him: Dai Hirano, whose almost impossible-to-believe performance at the Olympics last year had recently been called into question with reports of steroid abuse and illicit opioid usage.  The news had been going crazy about it a month or so ago. Ren had only really heard about it because Michi had kept her updated all the way through, even to the point of bursting into her room late one night to shake her awake and read to her the latest statement from the investigators.

The snowboarder was trembling, and it took her a moment too late to realize that it was from the indignant fury that was now pulsing through his veins.  The accusation was barely finished before he was pushing himself up, yanking his legs forward as he exploded from the couch –

And fell, face-first, onto the cold carpet.

He lay there a moment.

After a minute, he still wasn’t moving, save for the continued, angry tremors that seized his body.  Ren tapped his shoulder with her foot. “Don’t touch me,” he snarled.

On the opposite side of the couch, Ikki sighed and ran a hand through the feathers on his hat.  “You okay there, Dai? You’re not gonna throw up again, are you?”

“What, did he try to get up again?” the voice asked.  “Yuuto told you not to do that. You’ll get vertigo.”

Still face-down, Dai reached out an arm and, at an agonizingly slow pace, began to drag himself forward.

“Hey, cut that out, yeah?  You both need to calm down.  No more shouting or – crawling on the floor.  That’s pretty gross, dude.”

“I wasn’t the one shouting, but ugh, fine.”

“She started it.  She’s the one that’s wrong.”

Ikki sighed, but when Dai made no move to continue his rampage, turned his attention back to Ren.  "Anyway, I'm sure Yuuto told you and all that, but Dai and I ain't searching around cause we're both feeling like crap.  I mean, as you just saw, Dai over here can't take two steps without falling over or somethin', and for me? I'm still trying to recover from whatever they stuck us with.  It's kind of hard to go searching for an exit or whatever when you can't stand without getting dizzy, yeah?"

"I guess," Ren said.

"Hey, hey, what the hell?" Dai snapped, and snorted again, the sound muffled against the carpet.  He raised his head up. "You think I'm a fucking - I’m a sick guy or something? I'm not sick.”

“Sure thing, dude.”

“Fuck you.  I’m on the ground because unlike the rest of you idiots, I’m conserving my energy.”

"He's just grumpy 'cause he can't stand, yeah?" Ikki said, and he wiggled his long fingers.  "He gets all trembly-like."

Dai kicked a leg out and missed the radio host entirely.  "Shut up!"

"Alright, alright, sorry.  But yeah, uh, we're kinda stuck here... uh... Oh, and Gina's stuck here, too, until Akira comes back with somethin' for her to walk with.  She's the girl over there that Dai was arguing with."

At this invitation, Ren turned around to finally put a face to the voice, only to have to walk a few feet to actually see what Gina looked like, as she was lying in the middle of the floor in front of the reception desk.  She was a short girl - probably not even over five feet - who looked as though she had just gotten out of bed, if the pajama-like clothes she was wearing were any indication. Her hair was short and mussed and the color of hay; a headband of pink flowers stretched from ear to rounded ear, contrasting the scowl she had worked her face into.  It seemed to be a natural look for her.

Ren passed a hand over her filmy blue eyes, but Gina didn't seem to notice.  "I'm not deaf, you know," she snapped instead. "I heard you walk over here. I know that you're standing over me."

"You're staring right at the light on the ceiling," Ren observed.

Gina startled, deepened her scowl, and without uncrossing her arms jerked herself onto her side.  "Why didn't one of you assholes tell me that earlier, huh?" she seethed.

"Who the hell you callin' an asshole, huh?" Dai demanded.

"I thought you didn't want us to bother you, yeah?" Ikki called from the couch.  "It seemed safer just to keep quiet."

She opened her mouth, let out a choking sound, and closed it once again.  "Whatever," she hissed. "Anyway. Ren, I heard your name from over there, obviously.  I'm Gina Sakane. I write and perform spoken word poetry."

**[GINA SAKANE - THE ULTIMATE SPOKEN WORD POET]**

****

"I mostly do free form stuff," she continued, "but sometimes I like to use poetic forms.  Usually I find them a bit restricting."

"I've heard of you before," Ren said.  She wasn't really much for fancy reading like that, and her parents hadn't approved of her reading anything contemporary, but somewhere down the line she had somehow stumbled onto transcriptions of a poem or two written by the teen writing prodigy.  She had mixed feelings about most of the work, but there was one that she had liked writing out, over and over again, until she could probably recite it from memory. "I liked your poem about the moon girl or whatever."

Gina made a face.  "That's usually the one people dislike, since it's long and really boring and doesn't really lend itself to the genre, but thanks."

There was a moment of silence, and Ren decided to divert the conversation to what she was vaguely curious about.  "You’re lying on the ground,” she said. It couldn't be comfortable, especially with how thin Gina's clothes were.

Gina crossed her arms even tighter.  If she kept going, Ren imagined that they were going to dislocate from her shoulders.  "Yeah, so? It's not like I can move around or anything right now. When they kidnapped me, they thought it would be really funny to not bring my cane, so now I'm waiting for Akira to come back with a stick or something so I can walk around."

Ren stared at her, waiting for an explanation.  It was Ikki who finally provided one. "He's really pink," he called over.  "You'll know him when you see him."

That wasn't what she was concerned about, but whatever.  "You're blind," she deduced.

"Yeah," said Gina, "obviously.  That's why I need a cane. What, did Yuuto not tell you?"

"No."  He hadn’t really said anything about the other students, probably because Ren had left before he could.  Whoops.

"O-oh.  Well, I am.  Now you know."

"...Okay," Ren said.  Unable to think of anything else to talk about, she decided that the conversation was finished, and decided to leave to investigate the front door.

"Hey, wait!  Are - are you leaving?!"

"Yeah."

Gina had propped herself up and her head was now pointed vaguely in Ren's direction, a slightly panicked expression residing on an otherwise pissed face.  "You can't just - do that," she said after a moment. "I can't see. You have to tell me when you suddenly walk off!"

"...I'm going to go look at the door now."

"Just - okay," Gina said, and flopped back down.  "Fine. Never mind."

Ren blinked slowly and deliberately, remembered that Gina couldn't see her, and turned back around to object of her curiosity.

It looked to be a door, although one that was made of a thick, frozen steel, fitted so tightly against the door frame that Ren was unable to peek through the cracks.  She tried the doorknob but only managed to rattle it a few times before her hand began to stiffen at the cold.

"Yeah, we already checked that," Ikki called.  "It's a damn shame, cause it's not even that it's broken, yeah?  It's just that it's locked. There's no keyhole or nothing, though, so we can't even pick it."

"If there isn't a keyhole, how do you know it's locked and not busted?"

"Eh," he said, "I mean, I don't personally know.  But this other kid looked at it and said it wasn't broken."

"Tatsuo," Dai supplied.  “Tall fucker.”

"Yeah, him," Ikki continued.  "He said he's a magician or something, so I'm inclined to trust him, yeah?  They know their locks."

"I wouldn't trust him," Gina interrupted.  "Did you hear the way he talked? He creeps me out."

"I mean... yeah?  Not gonna lie, he was damn shady, but hair girl -"

"Izumi," Dai interrupted.

"Izumi - yeah, thanks - looked at it and agreed, and hey, she probably knows her stuff too."

"She lives in the woods or some shit like that," Dai said.  "What does she know about locks?"

"She seemed pretty confident, so she's gotta know something about them, yeah?"

The two continued to argue, but Ren had stopped listening.  She wasn't convinced about the lock issue, but whatever. The door was important, she decided, but in what way, she wasn't yet sure.  Whoever had kidnapped them had left it locked, after all. She gave the doorknob one last shake and decided to move on.

The last area to investigate in the lobby was its right side.  There was another fake plant here, but instead of being in the corner, it was directly between two sets of elevator doors set into the right wall.  At the top of each, the place where the floor number would usually be displayed had been replaced with a single strip of steel; the same treatment had been given to the space for the call button between them, leaving no visible way for the elevators to be summoned from the floor they were on.  It was weird enough to warrant further inspection and so she came closer to it, pushing away the fake plant leaves to note the almost sloppy way that the screws had drilled the metal piece into place. It certainly wasn't the work of a professional.

The final thing of note on the right side was the second set of double doors to the right of the file room door, leading out into a hallway just as gray as the one on the other side.  Not sure of what else to think about the elevators and having decided that the room had been explored to its fullest, Ren walked over to them and reached out to push them open.

“Oh, hey!” Ikki called over, halting her progression.  “I don’t mean to keep you here any longer or nothing, but just so you know, the hallway loops back around to the other set of doors.  Or, that’s what everyone else said. Just so you don’t get lost, yeah?”

That was actually helpful to know, Ren thought, but didn’t say.  She stared over at him for a moment, not really sure how to respond, before settling on a single nod.  She left.

**\--HALLWAY--**

Stretched out before her was a long, cramped hallway with dour gray walls, the monotony of which was broken here and there by the occasional poorly designed poster spouting phrases about work ethic and keeping the hallways clean (from the way the dust was crusting in the corners, it was obvious that the messages had been ignored).  It went far back, eventually veering to the right, past where Ren could see. It felt odd, she supposed, starting to walk down it, because there was a complete lack of doors. The only one she could see belonged to what seemed to be a closet on the left wall, currently propped open by the girl who was rifling through it.

The girl was on the shorter side – Ren’s height, perhaps – and looked very loosely put together, with an oversized t-shirt, faded jeans, and converse that were falling apart in places.  Currently, she was trying and failing to juggle an assortment of containers in her thickly gloved hands; the more she tried to grab, the more they fell, crashing to the floor and coating it in soap powder and thick detergent.  From the look of concentration that was present on her make-up heavy face, Ren assumed that she was unaware of this.

Good.  Ren crept closer and attempted to look over the girl’s shoulder into the closet proper, only to accidentally knock over a spray can.  At its metallic clatter, the girl swiveled her head around, blinking as her eyes landed on her surprise visitor. “Oh, hey, can you hold something?” the girl asked.

“No.”

Ren was immediately shoved back by the force of ten different cleaning products.  She staggered to regain her balance. “Thanks!” the girl said, flashing her teeth before turning back to the closet.  “I was just seeing what was back here, you know, and man, it’s a lot deeper than I thought! Like, there’s even a door back here, which doesn’t make any sense, but it’s still pretty cool.  Oh! Like a secret passage or something!”

She wiggled her fingers.  Ren responded by dropping the cans and bottles onto the ground, releasing such an awful noise that she almost vomited again.

“Man, you were supposed to hold them,” the girl groused, although her expression didn’t seem too bothered.  Ren ignored her, instead stepping over the mess on the floor in order to actually look into the closet. Most of its contents had been strewn across the tile outside, but a few containers still lingered on the shallow shelves.  It went back farther than most closets – at least a few feet – and as the girl had mentioned, it did indeed have a door in the back of it.

“Hey!” the girl suddenly cried, hitting her head with her hand.  “You’re the one that pointy guy was watching over in the one room, right?”

Ren wouldn’t have thought to describe Yuuto as pointy, although she supposed it was fairly apt, what with the needles he kept in his ears.  “Yeah.”

“Then we haven’t met yet!”  Pleased by her own deductive skills, the girl grinned wider.  “I’m Suzume Ogawa, the world’s greatest pyrotechnician!”

**[SUZUME OGAWA - THE ULTIMATE PYROTECHNICIAN]**

****

"How about you?" she continued.

"Ren Yusuke," Ren said.  "I do calligraphy."

"Oh, that's cool!  I always thought all that stuff looked really neat, but I can't do it myself.  I don't have near enough dexterity for it."

"You probably would if you took off your gloves."

"Ha!" Suzume cackled, and slapped Ren on the back.  The impact was so great that, for a moment, Ren forgot how to breathe.  "I probably would!"

While Ren was bent over, Suzume turned around and started rifling through the storage room detritus.  She emerged from the mess with a necklace of cheap fabric, upon which a single key was chained. "I think this is the key to that door," she said.  "I was gonna open it, but then it was locked, and then I got distracted by all the stuff in here. I wonder what's on the other side?"

Ren gave her a blank look.  Suzume bounced over to the door in the back and gave it a solid knock.  "I knocked earlier," she explained, "and there wasn't any reply, but you never know!  I don't just wanna burst in on someone, you know?"

"It's a locked door," Ren said, but Suzume was already distracted by the act of putting the key into the hole.  There was a click, and the door swung open.

Immediately, noise could be heard.

"Pull harder!"

"Can't we – hhhhhhhh I don’t think this is working - just get a knife?"

"Maybe you should stop being such a fucking baby -"

There was a loud crash, accompanied by the groans of someone in pain.  Suzume stepped out into the adjacent room, and Ren, having nothing to do and feeling vaguely curious about what was going on, followed.

**\--STORAGE ROOM--**

The closet connected to what appeared to be a proper storage room, but whereas the closet had cleaning products, this room hosted an assortment of canned goods and random objects, from mundane boxes of plastic forks to an adventurously knotted ball of what might have been nylon rope, all stacked haphazardly on tightly packed rows of metal shelves and spilling out onto the dirty tile floor.  A shelf in the middle had toppled over, Ren noted, taking down every other shelf up to the wall along with it.

"Oh, wow!" said Suzume.

"Weak," spit the red-haired girl in the center of the room.

"Oooooouuuuuuuaaaagggghhhhh," groaned the pink and brown mound sprawled on the toppled shelf beneath her.  They stuck out a rumpled arm for a second before letting it fall back down. "Izumi, can you - "

"Fine," the girl interrupted, and in one impressive motion bent down, grabbed the teen under their arms, and swung them back into a standing position.  They stumbled, nearly falling again on the landing, but the girl managed to grab them before they could keel over.

"Eh heh.  Thank you," they choked out.  The girl nodded.

Although they were now upright, it still took Ren a second to identify the teen on the right as male, mostly because of the clothes that he was wearing.  The outfit and hair he wore resembled that of Mimi Hakumura, the cat-eared protagonist of "I'm a Cat Girl and I Can Do Magic but I Still Have to Go to High School???" (called "Cat Magic High School" for short), a popular albeit trashy manga about an ordinary high school girl who, on her fourteenth birthday, inherits her dead mother's powers and becomes a magical cat girl.  The first episode of the anime adaptation had aired just a few days ago, Ren remembered, but she hadn't yet seen it.

Anyway, the boy's outfit was exactly like that: the long pink hair topped with cat ears, the same school uniform, the overabundance of bows... Were it not for the roundness of his face and his bright brown eyes, she could have mistaken him for Mimi-chan herself.

He was missing the tail, though.  Lame.

Whereas the boy was all softness and baby fat, the girl beside him looked as though she had been born in the wild.  Everything about her was sharp: sharp face, sharp nose, sharp eyes which, coupled with her scowl, gave the impression that she lived in a state of permanent anger.  She matched the visage of a lumbering bear, both because of her height - a head and a half above the boy next to her - and her matted red hair, falling into her face and onto her shoulders and overall increasing her width to almost twice her actual size.  Her skin was so freckled that Ren could barely see the pale white beneath it.

The boy reached down to pick up a broom off the floor, and in doing so, noticed Suzume and Ren camping out on the other side of the room.  "Suzume! Hi!" he called, straightening up and waving perhaps a little too enthusiastically. "Who's that next to you? ...How did you get in here?"

"Heyyy, Akira.  There was a door in the closet that was attached to this room," Suzume said, grabbing Ren's arm - an act Ren found distinctly Not Pleasant - and dragging her over to him.  "It's super cool. Also, this is Ren! She's a writer."

"Calligrapher," Ren corrected.

"Oh!  That's really cool!" said the boy.  "I'm Akira Aida." He jutted out his hip and held his hand in a peace sign up next to his face.  "I'm the Ultimate Cosplayer, nyeh. I like cosplaying as cute things! ( ^∇^ )"

**[AKIRA AIDA - THE ULTIMATE COSPLAYER]**

****

He continued to hold the pose.  "Izumi," he said.

The scowl of the girl next to him deepened.  "Izumi Kido," she barked. "Survivalist."

**[IZUMI KIDO - THE ULTIMATE SURVIVALIST]**

****

"It's nice to meet you!" Akira finished.

Ren stared at the broom he was holding and made a connection.  "Gina said you were going to find something for her to walk with."

"Oh, you met her?  Yeah, I'm trying to!  She didn't have her cane with her, so I went looking around and found this broom in here, and Izumi was also in here so I asked her to help me out with getting the bristly part off.  She said I should just yank it off, since it’s an old broom anyway and the glue’s probably brittle... It was a good idea, but it didn't work out too well, he he. (･ω･`〃)"

"He's fuckin' weak," Izumi explained.

"I - um, thank you, Izumi, yes, I… wasn't very strong.  Eh heh. So, I fell down!"

Ren thought it was really stupid to try and pull a broom apart instead of, like, snapping it or cutting it or something, but whatever.  “That would make a really shitty cane,” she said instead. Even if they took off the end, the handle was uncomfortably thick, square, and covered in splinters.  Just the thought of it accidentally touching her made her arms tighten against her sides.

“Well, we’re not just gonna remove the bottom.  Izumi said she’d help me reshape it a little, since I’m not very good at working with wood yet.  I’m only good with wires and foam.”

Izumi shrugged.  “Easier than carving branches.  It’s bad wood, though.”

“I’m sure Gina will appreciate whatever we give her!  Once all the splinters are out, of course, he he.”

Izumi rolled her eyes and huffed.  “This is boring. Let’s just finish it already.”

“Oh, um, okay!   Maybe we could, um, change positions this time?”

Akira looked nervous; Ren presumed he didn’t want to fall into a shelf again.  To her side, Suzume, who had been playing with a set of candles for the past few minutes,  snapped back into reality. She took in the scene before – Izumi grabbing the broom at its base, Akira sweating on the other side - and blinked in an almost comical fashion   "Haah?" she said, leaning forward as she drew out the noise. "Why don't you just chop it off?"

"He he," Akira began, taking a hand off the broom to rub his arm.  "Well, there wasn't anything to cut it with, nyeh! (^∇^`;;)"

Izumi scoffed and kicked at a fork that had fallen by her foot.  "There's nothing useful like that in here," she growled. “Plenty of other decent stuff, but nothing that can actually cleave.  I’m gonna have to make somethin’…”

Suzume tilted her head.  "Can't you just use that axe thing over there?"

Ren looked at where she had pointed, and sure enough, sitting in a pool of broken glass by the top of one of the fallen shelves was a tool that was undoubtedly an axe.  It must have fallen from the top of the shelf, she realized; the standing ones were tall enough that she suspected that even Izumi wouldn't have been able to notice it before.

"Oh, huh, I guess we must have missed it, he he," Akira said, scratching at the back of his neck.

Izumi, apparently, felt no need to comment.  Instead, she dropped the broom, shoved Suzume out of the way, and with an odd grace rushed through the junk scattered around the floor, finally stopping before the aforementioned axe, hefting it up from its glass prison, and running a hand along the handle.  "Ooohhhh, hell yeah," she crooned, and settled it over her shoulder. When she twisted back around, her grin and eyes had a wild edge to them. "Akira, gimme that broom. We're gonna axe it."

"O-okay!"

"Oh, hey, I wanna see this!"

Akira and Suzume stumbled over and went to work on clearing a proper space for the task (or, Akira did; Suzume, now holding the broom, cheered him on), but Ren stayed back, not particularly wanting to have to exert herself or end up sprawled over a shelf like Akira had been.  Once she was sure they were all looking the other way, she crept back, almost tripping over a fallen box, and kept going, until she had reached the back wall of the storage room. There was another unknown door here, but unlike the one into the room, it lacked a lock. She opened it and slipped away, hoping that whoever was on the other side would be slightly less loud than the crowd now shouting over the broom.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next chapter is gonna take me a few days, mostly because I have to edit some of the pictures and rewrite an introduction in it. I'm gonna aim for an update on either Thursday or Friday, I think? And then that'll be the end of my fully pre-written stuff, so after that I'll try and figure out a decent update schedule. 
> 
> Next time: Ren meets the remaining eight students.


	3. The 88th Class, Part Two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ren meets her remaining classmates and stands in the bathroom for a while.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was hoping to have everything done by Thursday, but some personal stuff got in the way. It's still Friday where I am, though, so TECHNICALLY I'm not off schedule B)

**\--KITCHEN--**

The room that connected to the storage room was a commercial kitchen, although a kind of shitty one, if Ren were to be critical of it.  The space along the left wall was taken up by the usual kitchen scenery of cabinets, ovens, and countertops; the middle space was for three stainless steel tables, all shoved against one another to maximize their surface area.  Beneath them were stacks of dusty white plates and above were pots and pans, hanging off of a rectangular piece of metal attached to the ceiling. A girl was standing here, reaching up on the tips of well-worn boots to put back a particularly large frying pan when Ren entered.  She was tall and curvy and dressed as vague approximation of a pilot, with a shortened aviation jacket, a pilot's scarf, and thin brown gloves. She even had the stereotypical goggles and hat, the flaps of which were awkwardly pushed out by her flyaway blonde hair. 

"Hm," said the girl, tilting her head ever so slightly in Ren's direction.  "I don't know you."

Her voice was low and sultry and politely disinterested.  Ren was immediately flustered. "I'm Ren Yusuke," she mumbled, bringing a hand up to cover the bottom of her face.  "I do calligraphy."

"Mm."  The girl turned fully, exposing emotionless eyes and a permanently bland smile.  "My name is Amelie Pedrozo. I'm the best RC helicopter pilot you will ever have the pleasure of meeting."

**[AMELIE PEDROZO - THE ULTIMATE RC HELICOPTER PILOT]**

****

She – what?

“RC helicopters,” Ren repeated.

“Yes.  Of course, I’m capable in all forms of RC flight, including aircrafts such as rockets and jets, but helicopters are what I excel in.  I suppose you could say it’s in my blood.”

It was well known that, in order to pad the numbers, Hope’s Peak was willing to let in students with more questionable talents. Everyone else’s talents up until now had seemed pretty normal (perhaps barring Izumi’s), so Ren guessed that it was about time she met someone with a talent that was kind of dumb.

Wait, what was that last comment?  “So, like… what, your parents were also pilots?”

“Oh, no.  My father was a farmer.  It was actually my ancient ancestors who were RC pilots.” A muted thump jumped through the kitchen; Ren started at the sound.  “We found many manuscripts buried in the backyard a few years ago, detailing quite a few of their experiences. Some of them even date back all the way to the 1400s.”

“Did you hear that?"

Amelie's eyes flicked to the side and back again, but her expression was otherwise unchanged.  "I don't know what you're talking about."

Ren almost dropped the issue when the thump sounded again, and then again.  It was upon it becoming frantic that she realized the noise was coming from the door to the walk-in freezer on the other side of the room.

Taking one last look at Amelie, who still wasn't reacting, Ren cautiously stepped over to the door in the back.  Had it not been made of solid steel, it would have been shaking; as it was, only the small window in its center rattled, so forceful was the knocking of the hand on the other side.

"Hello!" came a muffled voice.  "Could you unlock the freezer for Minta, please?  It is very cold. Minta is a little bit worried that she might freeze to death in here!"

The freezer had a thumb lock, currently set in a horizontal position.  Ren took in the desperate smile of the girl behind the foggy glass and turned to look at Amelie.  "Did you lock her in the freezer?"

There was a long and uncomfortable pause, during which the girl continued to bang on the window and Amelie stared with her same bland expression.  "She was being incredibly annoying," she finally said.

God, that knocking was like a hammer banging nails into her brain.  "I'm letting her out."

"I would disagree with that decision."

The edges of her smile dipped down slightly, becoming more the shadow of a grin than anything else.  Shaking off the chill than ran through her, Ren stretched upwards, turning the lock and putting her hand on the door handle to open it.  She only managed to pull it a few inches before a great force exerted itself from the opposing side, smashing the door into her head and flinging Ren back into the wall.

She was, in a word, unreal, stumbling from the freezer like something out of a half-recalled dream, liquid velvet unfurling behind her as the door slammed closed.  Boots, pink and glittering and laced all the way up to the tops of her thighs, carried her tall stature forward; the ruffles of her shirt fluttered in the cold puffs of air; and, as the fog of frozen sleep disappeared, all the different pieces of her dulled, coalescing into the rather ridiculous image of a child playing pretend.

The girl tripped on her heels a little more, trembling as she gripped her cape about her, and then finally turned around, revealing a slightly scarred mouth, manic eyes, and platinum blonde hair that was too carefully constructed to be real, curling in wide loops around her face and tied up into two drooping buns.  "Ah, thank you so much!" she chattered. "Minta was just talking about how loud those people in the storage room were being when Amelie thought it would be very funny to hit her with a frying pan and lock her in the freezer! It was not. Minta did not appreciate being locked in there."

She gave Amelie a nasty look.  Amelie did not appear to notice.

"Anyway," the girl continued, perking up and focusing her attention back on Ren, "Minta must know the name of the person who rescued her!"

"Ren Yusuke.  I'm a calligrapher."

"Calligraphy!  A student of the arts."  The girl closed her eyes and smirked.  "Heh. Well, Ren, Minta should introduce herself as well!"  She flipped her sunglasses down over her eyes and threw out her arms.  "I am: Minta Shimon! And I am... the Ultimate Mystery! Ha ha ha!"

"She's a literary critic," Amelie interjected.

**[MINTA SHIMON - THE ULTIMATE LITERARY CRITIC]**

****

"Amelie."

"You're a literary critic?" Ren asked in the most skeptical tone she could muster.

"Ah - yes!" Minta said, immediately bouncing back from her previous setback.  "Minta is a very well-known name in the literary world. She has reviewed everything and analyzed everything.  To receive a good word from Minta is the highest praise an author can receive, ha ha!"

Ren stared at Minta, attempting to match her up to the demeanor of the one English teacher she had ever had, and just wound up even more confused.  "I believe Ren's disbelief is from you talking like a child," Amelie explained.

Minta blinked, and then grinned wider.  "Ah, Minta understands. Know this, Ren!”  She put her hand on Ren’s shoulder, which, no.  Absolutely not. Ren attempted to wrench it off, only to be met with an increasingly tighter grip.  “All of this is necessary,” she continued, as though she weren’t puncturing Ren’s shoulder with her shitty manicure.  “Minta must preserve… the  **Minta Image™** !"

"The Minta image," Ren repeated through gritted teeth. 

"Ha ha, yes!”  Minta finally released her shoulder to clap her hands together.  “You understand."

"...Okay," said Ren, who wondered if this is what it felt like to have a stroke.  Maybe that was why she still felt so dizzy: her brain was bobbing up and down in the blood of a ruptured vein, or something really dumb like that.  “Well, bye.”

“Minta – eh?  What?” 

“I was gonna leave.  I said goodbye.”

“O-oh, of course!  Of course, Minta understands!  Although, Minta also thinks that Ren should not be so sudden when saying goodbye.  Abrupt endings are the worst kinds of endings, and they are often either confusing or unsatisfying – unless the ending is meant to be abrupt, of course, but even then, that abruptness is foreshadowed!  A parting must have some kind of lead-up!”

God, this was Gina all over again. Years of fancy dinner etiquette trudged through Ren’s mind and she ignored every bit of it.  “Okay. I’m leaving. Goodbye.” 

“Goodbye,” Amelie said, still with that same mild grin.

Minta huffed.  “Okay. Bye-Bye, Ren!  Minta will be here, looking around some more.  And this time, Minta will not be turning her back on Amelie!"

"I’m glad to see that I have earned your trust," Amelie said, which probably meant that Minta was going to find herself back in the freezer sometime soon.  Whatever. Ren turned her back on both of them and left through the kitchen's double doors.

**\--CAFETERIA--**

The kitchen exited into an area that Ren assumed was for serving food, attached directly to a cafeteria proper.  It was a large space that felt much smaller than it should have been, due to its walls having the same drab gray color as the hallways outside.  The only decoration on them was a large analogue clock; apparently, it was one o'clock, although whether it was in the morning or the afternoon, Ren had no idea, as she had yet to see a window; the only source of light had come from the oppressive ones overhead. 

Still, despite it easily having been the biggest room so far, it wasn't even as large as Ren's school cafeteria.  The seating consisted only of three long tables, parallel to the doors Ren had just exited but perpendicular to the set of double doors on the other side that, she assumed, led back into the hallway.  Three people were grouped towards the end of the middle table, two huddled together on one side of it and the other sitting across from them.

The boy that sat alone was a spindly mass of lavender and black and blonde, a cat-like grin on his otherwise blank face as he shuffled around what appeared to be a deck of cards.  A scarf of colorful tied cloths was wrapped multiple times around his neck, the ends dangling down below his thin jacket and tied around his hands and wrists.

Opposite the boy was a pair of teenagers who just had to be related in some way.  There was too much similar between them to be a coincidence, Ren thought: the height, the same dark shade of skin, the round faces that mirrored one another.  The girl, who was currently leaning forward, had an unhealthy flush about her, as though it was strenuous just to be sitting down. One hand was curled in the tangled mess of the braid that flopped down over her right shoulder; the other gripped the stretchy violet of her dress.  Looking down, Ren noticed that she didn't have any shoes. In contrast, the boy had a far more studious look about him, adorned in an ugly yellow sweater and dusty trousers. His scholarly aura was partially ruined by his hair, which, despite the obvious attempts to tame it, exhibited the same messy traits as the girl’s.  From the boxy way he was sitting, he seemed rather unimpressed with the event going on.

"Now," the blonde boy was saying as Ren approached, addressing the feminine part of the duo, "is your card in this group?" 

He held out a set of five cards.  The girl flicked her glasses up and squinted at them.  "I don't think so..."

"I see, I see!"  He nodded and stuck the cards back into the deck.

While the blonde boy shuffled, the dark-haired boy opposite him shifted in his seat.  "Shiori, I really don't think that we should be wasting our time on this."

The girl huffed.  "It's not gonna take that much longer!  Don't be such a spoilsport." 

As though taking her statement as a cue, the blonde boy ceased his shuffling and flicked out a card, holding it up between his thin fingers.  "Based off of every single thing that you said, Kotobuki, there's only one thing that your card can be!" He flipped his hand around. "You picked the five of hearts, am I riiiight?" 

"Oh, that's right!" Shiori gasped.  She grabbed her companion's arm. "Oh, Landon, he got it right!  Isn't that so cool?"

"I never said it wasn't cool," Landon groused.  "I was just trying to say that you wanted to make tea for Dai and Ikki, and maybe we should be spending our time on that instead of watching card tricks – oh, hello."

Landon had turned as he talked to see Ren standing beside him, and now the other two also turned to stare.  "Hi there!" said Shiori, showing off her buck teeth as she smiled and waved. 

The boy on the opposite side leaned forward.  "Oh, wow!" he exclaimed, somehow managing to invade her personal space despite the table between them.   "It looks like another person has come just to watch me perform! What's your name?"

"Ren Yusuke," said Ren.

"Well, Yusuke, I think that you and I should show Ybarra that he's just being a boring idiot, and that my magic is super cool.  Wanna do a card trick with me?"

"I just saw you do part of one."

"Yeah, but that one wasn't as cool as this one is going to be."  He took the deck of cards and fanned them out in front of her. "Come on, pick a card!"

Shiori was giving her a starry-eyed look; Landon was exasperated; and the boy in front of her just smiled, his eyes wide but devoid of any discernible emotion.  Ren reached down and took a card.

It was the jack of spades.  "Be careful with that!" said the boy, winking.  "They're sharp! You might cut your finger on them and then bleed out and die!"

"There's no way a playing card can be that sharp," Landon huffed.

"Yeah, well, my playing cards are super special, Ybarra, and your comments are super not appreciated!  If you wanna test my cards, then you can do it after the performance, okaaaaaay?"

"I," Landon began.

"Anyway!  Do you know what your card is, Yusuke?  Do you have it reeeeeeally memorized?" Ren nodded.  "In that case, stick it back in here! Make sure to put it in so I don't see it." 

She stuck the card back into the middle of the fan.  The boy clapped the cards back into a deck and, without even moving his arms, sprung from his seat onto the top of the table.  "Wow," he said, cutting the deck in half and starting to shuffle it, "you guys all look really short from up here!"

"Is there a reason why you decided to jump up on the table?" Landon asked, exasperated.

The shuffling became more elaborate and, Ren had to admit, impressive to watch, although she was pretty sure she ended up spacing out for most of it.  "I thought it might convince you nonbelievers in the audience if I stood up here! Now you know I'm not hiding  _ any cards _ on my  _ entire body _ .  This is real, genuine magic!"  

As though to prove it, the boy spun around, but was a little too enthusiastic with the action: he lifted his left foot and the right one slipped, causing him to hop forward, arms flailing, as he teetered on the edge of the table for a second before crashing into the space that Landon had vacated just in time.  In the silence, the playing cards fluttered down upon the stunned audience.

"Oh my gosh, are you okay?" Shiori shrieked.

Landon reached down, but the boy shot up before he could offer help, scattering even more cards in his wake.  "Thank you very much for your concern, Kotobuki, but I am perfectly a-okay! Unfortunately, I seem to have scattered my  _ entire _ deck of cards across the  _ entire _ cafeteria.  Yusuke's card has to definitely be here somewhere, though!"  He whirled around to point at Landon. "Ybarra! Could you be a little less of a suuuuuper boring idiot and help me out by giving me that card you have on you?"

"I'm sorry?" Landon asked.

"Wow, it looks like even with those glasses, your eyesight is still really bad!"  The boy leaned forward and gave Landon's glasses a flick before pointing down at his neck.  "I'm talking about that card right there."

Landon fumbled for a moment before picking out the card that had landed in his collar.  The boy leaned over to read it. "The ace of spades?" he asked. "Hmmm. The suit is right, but that rank is definitely wrong.  It also doesn't fit Yusuke at all!" 

He shoved Landon's hand - and, consequently, the card - back into his collar and stepped over to Shiori, who was pulling at a card that had gotten tangled in her hair.  "I'll get that for you!" said the boy, reaching over and plucking it from the matted gnarls. "Wow, the five of hearts again? That's completely and utterly wrong!" He put his hands on his hips.  "You guys are both really bad at this. It's almost like you're trying to sabotage my magic show or something!" 

"What on earth are you talking about?" Landon asked.  "You're the one who tripped and spilled your deck everywhere."

Shiori was less focused on this issue.  "Landon, that was the same card as last time!"  she hissed, a little out of breath from all the proceedings.  "That's so neat!"

While Landon's arm was tugged at by Shiori, the blonde boy spun around again - honestly, how did he keep doing that?  Ren felt sick just watching him twirl - and pointed at Ren's forehead. "Hey, Yusuke, it would be one hundred percent helpful if you could end this magic show by giving me that card you have there!"

Oh.  A card had managed to get stuck in her barrette.  She pulled it out and -

...How the ...?

"It's my card," she choked.

"The jack of spades?" the boy asked.  He reached over and plucked the card from her hand.  "I knew it! You had it all along." He turned around and showed the other two the card.  "See, you guys? You tried to ruin my magic show, but I was smart and just gave Yusuke her card.  You'll have to try a little harder than that to beat Tatsuo Kitano, the world's greatest magician!"

**[TATSUO KITANO - THE ULTIMATE STREET MAGICIAN]**

****

Tatsuo bowed.  Shiori clapped so hard that her glasses started to slip down her nose.  "That was so cool!" she gasped. "Landon, wasn't that so cool?"

"It was very cool," he admitted.  He turned to Tatsuo. "Your performance was very impressive, although I have no idea how you managed to get those cards to fall exactly how you wanted to.  How did you do it?"

Tatsuo put a hand on Landon's shoulder and leaned in.  "I coooooouuuld explain it, if you wanted, but I won't, cause it's a secret!  And you can't find it online cause this is 100% Kitano magic."

Landon frowned.  "It isn't as though I'm going to be able to tell anyone, considering our current predicament."

"Ah, but what about aaaafter 'our current predicament,' huh?  I know all about that blog you run, Ybarra! And you know, like, a million buh-JILLION different languages, so if I tell you, then soon enough, half the world would know, and it wouldn't be special Kitano magic then!"

"I'd hardly say I know that amount.  Nine and a half is more accurate."

"He's trying to learn Russian, but he's really bad at it," Shiori whispered to Ren. 

"Right," said Ren, who had no idea what she was talking about.

Ren was usually a pretty emotionless person, but Shiori must have picked up on whatever traces of bewilderment were present in her tone, as she suddenly straightened up and gasped.  "Landon, we haven't introduced ourselves!" she exclaimed, giving his arm a violent tug before turning back to face Ren. "I'm Shiori Kotobuki! If you're ever feeling sick, just come to me, okay?  I'm really good at herbalism, and although I'm not sure what there is to work with here, I'll try to make you feel better."

**[SHIORI KOTOBUKI - THE ULTIMATE HERBALIST]**

****

Oh, so she was one of those people.  "Okay," Ren said.

"I don't have a very high approval of the practice, myself," Landon explained, "but Shiori has shown definite success with the few patients she's had, so I'll admit that there must be some merit to what she does, even if it is all based on pseudoscience."

"Landon," Shiori said, a slightly chilled edge to her voice, "I've explained to you multiple times that it's based on real, empirical science, silly!  And this is enough about me. You should introduce yourself now!"

She gave him a little shove.  He huffed and turned to Ren. "Shiori's right; I'm sorry.  I'm Landon Ybarra. You've probably guessed from what Tatsuo mentioned, but I'm the Ultimate Linguist."

**[LANDON YBARRA - THE ULTIMATE LINGUIST]**

****

"He's also super smart," Shiori boasted.  Then, in a fake whisper: “He’s actually a genius.” 

"Just because I spend my free time focusing on less trivial activities than you..."

The two were clearly familiar with each other; their back and forth dialogue sounded as though it had been repeated numerous times between them.  "Are you two related?" Ren interjected.

Shiori giggled.  "Yep! Landon's my twin brother.  I'm older than him, but he hates it when I bring it up."

"It's because you always mention it," said twin brother complained.  "Anyway, if you're wondering about the last name difference, it's because our parents are unfortunately divorced."

It was immediately after this explanation that Tatsuo, who had been crawling around the floor to gather up his playing cards, finally decided to pop back up.  "Wow," he exclaimed, leaning an elbow on Landon's shoulder and cutting off whatever else the linguist had been about to say, "this conversation is really, incredibly interesting, but my card tricks are way interestinger!  I think we should do more of them."

"We are not doing more card tricks," Landon snapped.  "You've been doing card tricks for half an hour, by now, when we should have been investigating.  And would you please get off my shoulder!"

"Nah."  He shifted his weight; Landon grimaced.  "Anyway! Yusuke, you so graciously decided to help me with the last one!  Wanna help me out again?"

Ren glanced at the offered cards.  It was tempting; she was quite the fan of not doing much of anything as often as she could, and the idea of watching someone do stupid tricks appealed to her much more than the exhausting process of walking around and talking with students she didn't really care about.  At the same time, however, Tatsuo was almost as exhausting to listen to as Minta had been, with an added element of unnervingness she couldn't quite pin down. "No," she said.

"Huh?  You don't want to stay around for even more extremely impressive magic?"

"Not really."

"Hmm?  Why not?  Didn't you like my suuuuper cool magic trick?  Wasn't it suuuuper impressive?"

"I guess," Ren said.

There was a moment when Tatsuo just stared at her, eyes unblinking, mouth never slipping from its pointed grin, and Ren could, with a sudden and intense clarity, understand why everyone in the lobby had called him creepy - and then animation returned to Tatsuo's limbs, causing him to jerk his arm away from Landon's shoulder to stick his hands on his hips.  "Wow, Yusuke," he said, "you're even harder to impress than Ybarra! I'll let you go, but just this once, okaaaaay?" He winked and spun around to face Shiori. "Anyway, Kotobuki, how about you and I go again? Your brother's gotta give in sometime!"

"Absolutely not," Landon huffed at the same time as Shiori tugged on his shirt, giving an exasperated "Laaaandon!" in the process.  Ren took this as a cue to leave, and she did, as fast as she was willing to.

**\--HALLWAY--**

As she had suspected, the cafeteria was connected to the outer hallway.  Going to the right would probably take her back to the storage closet; the left, to the other part of the building; and the doors in front of her, to some kind of room.  She walked forward and pushed through them to start with.

**\--FLOOR 1 STAIRWELL--**

The set of doors opposite of the cafeteria opened into a stairwell.  It was a small, rectangular area, with cobbly walls and slick flooring that were bathed in a fuzzy, almost purple light.  There was a single available stairway here, the entrance to which was quite literally barred by an iron gate. A boy was standing in front of it, clutching the bars tight in his hands and pressing his head up against them as he stared down.  With nothing else of interest in the area, Ren walked up beside him and joined him in staring.

The stairs led downwards - not what she had been expecting - but the lighting was so poor that she could only see about halfway down before the rest faded into darkness.  The boy next to her held himself stiffly as she looked, clearly acknowledging her presence, but said nothing. God, was she gonna have to start this introduction? She didn't really want to.

"...Hello..." said the boy.  Thank god.

"Hi," said Ren. 

The boy kept his face forward, eyes flickering uncertainly between her and the stairs below them.  "I'm Fuyuki Fukumitsu," he finally mumbled when Ren showed no signs of walking away. "Um... I like... rocks."

“In, like… a professional capacity, or…”

“…Yes.  I’ve… um… done a lot of studies on them…”

**[FUYUKI FUKUMITSU – THE ULTIMATE GEOLOGIST]**

****

Weren't geologists always outside?  Fuyuki didn't look like he did - well, anything, really.  Aside from a few peeling band-aids here and there, there no scrapes or bruises or any kind of muscle mass that might've been formed from treks down into mines.  He just looked... kind of wimpy, she thought. Boyish. Like a little kid. 

“That’s cool, I guess.”

“…Thanks…”

Silence.

“…Um… so… Who are you?” Fuyuki asked.

“Ren Yusuke.  I do calligraphy.”

“My, um… my mom does… stuff like that.  So that’s… really cool.” A pause. “I liked… listening to the ink stone when she worked.”

“You mean, like… the ink grinding noise, or…?”  Because Ren guessed it sounded okay. Kind of splooshy, honestly, because of all the water.  

Fuyuki, however, shook his head.  “No, I mean… the ink stone.”

“The… ink stone.”

He nodded.  “It was made from tuff taken from the, um… a river… so it sounded… a little like bubbling water when it whispered…”

It -

What? 

“Rocks don’t… talk…” Ren said.

“They don’t.  They, um… they’re quiet so they whisper, most of the time.”

“I’ve never heard them do that.”

“That’s because… most people can’t hear it, but everything makes noise.  Including rocks. Right now… the dirt on the floor is talking… and the steel bars are signing… and, um, if you listen… close enough… then you can hear the sound of stone from all around us…”  He paused, his face suddenly flushed. “Or… I can…”

Well, Ren obviously didn’t believe whatever hallucinatory bullshit he was spouting, but it was pretty obvious to her that he certainly believed that he could hear rocks.  Whatever. It wasn’t really something that was worth arguing over, nor did she really care to argue in the first place. “...That’s stupid, but okay…” she said, after far too much time had already passed.

Her dismissive reply stole whatever confidence the embarrassed boy had left; his eyes went from looking a point over her shoulder to back down at the dark stairs. 

The stairs... Was there another stairwell around here?  It really didn't make sense for there to only be stairs going down.  Even the bars were weird, seeming to come out of the wall itself rather than belonging to a separate, attached gate.

She stepped away from the stairs, ignoring Fuyuki's flinch, and did some half-hearted searching for a release mechanism, ultimately turning up nothing.  Fuyuki obviously hadn’t found anything either or else he would have used it already, judging from the longing way he seemed to stare downwards, and so Ren decided that there wasn’t anything else interesting to check out in the stairwell. 

She turned, stepping towards the double doors, and paused with her hand on the handle.  People usually said goodbye when they were leaving, so... "See ya," she said, causing Fuyuki to jump.

"B-bye," he said, the word almost getting caught in the closing of the stairwell doors. 

**\--HALLWAY--**

Back in the hallway again, Ren took a moment to try and reorient herself.  Hope's Peak took in sixteen students every year, she knew, so by this point she had to have met - she tried to count but gave up - almost everyone by now.  Assuming that Ikki's statement was right, and this floor was in one giant loop, she had to have also seen most of the floor by this point.

She focused her attention on another set of double doors located to her left, nestled in the corner of the hallway, in front of which stood a slouching boy who had definitely not been there a few minutes ago.  From behind, it looked as though he was examining them, but upon her approach, Ren noticed that he had actually just been looking through their covered windows without seeing. She snapped a finger in front of his face; no response.  She reached out a hand, awkwardly maneuvering it into the space between his torso and the door, and went to grasp the handle -

"It won't open," the boy said, his tired eyes having finally found their way over to her.  Ren met them for a second and then looked back to the handle, which she promptly tried to pull back.  The door opened perhaps an inch before it was stopped by an unknown force. She pushed it forward; it did the same.  "See what I mean? I don't know what's causing it," the boy continued, sliding his eyes back to the wood. "There isn't a lock that I can see, and even if there was, the door opens too much for that to be a possibility."

He went silent.  Was he waiting for an answer?  Were they having a conversation now?  "There's probably something blocking it from the other side," Ren guessed.  That's what it had certainly felt like. 

"Hm.  That's what I was thinking, too, although it's not like we can check to see if it's right at the moment." 

The boy nodded, as though to affirm the statement to himself, and then suddenly stepped back, his cowboy boots - his high-heeled, sequin-covered, novelty cowboy boots - making an obnoxious clattering noise as he spun on one heel and turned to face her properly.  Ren took in his limp hair, the hand jammed into his faded jeans, the slouch that made him and her equal in height, and she wondered how someone could look so exhausted and yet so sharp at the same time.

"Anyway, I see you're finally up," he said, startling her.  "We were all getting a bit worried about you when you didn't wake up, especially what with how you banged your head when that one girl found you.  Luckily, you haven't missed much - I doubt anyone's managed to find out anything about our predicament, myself included." He gave a vague nod. "I'm Eito Hiromi, by the way.  I was picked by Hope's Peak for my abilities in - ah - 'Competitive Eating.'"

**[EITO HIROMI - THE ULTIMATE COMPETITIVE EATER]**

****

"Competitive eating," Ren repeated.  "That's a talent?"

Eito shrugged.  "Yeah. I've been doing it since I was... six, I believe.  It's more popular in other countries than here in Japan. It's something to do, I guess.  It's not as cool as some of our classmate's talents, but at least I get to travel." His eyes, which had been staring just left of her face, finally focused into something sharp.  He shoved a thumb into his mouth - he was wearing a watch, she noted - and began to gnaw on it. "Who are you, then?"

"Ren Yusuke."

"Am I to assume, Ren, that you're also a Hope's Peak student?"

"They scouted me out."

"What for?  Art?"

"Calligraphy."

He nodded, examining the ink stains on her blouse.  "Makes sense. It seems like there’s a lot of humanities-based talents this year.  Even Suzume’s deals heavily with aesthetics. Usually they try to keep it more balanced… I wonder why that is.”

“I mean…” Was he asking her?  Was she supposed to answer? “I dunno.  I don’t really care about all that stuff.”  Her brother was the one obsessed with Hope’s Peak, not her, after all.  She barely knew about any of the former students, except for the ones he kept updating her about.  

“Oh, I wasn’t asking you.  I was just talking to myself.  I don’t know either, though, so it seems we’re both stuck in the same boat.”  He paused, taking his abused thumb from his mouth but still keeping it up. “Anyway… Congratulations on getting accepted to Hope’s Peak, Ren.  Hopefully we can find a way out of here so that all of us can actually attend.”

“...I guess…”

Despite her dismissive reply, he let slip a tired but genuine smile and then his gaze slid off of her to watch no particular point in space, his hand dropping down to his side as though he had forgotten to keep it up. 

Ren realized that she wasn't going to get any more conversation out of him and decided that she was fine with that.  Despite whatever it was about him that had made her nervous, Eito wasn't as tiring as some of the other students had been, which Ren appreciated, although her patience with talking to them had really started to wear thin.  She took in her surroundings. She obviously couldn't get in those double doors, and didn't really feel like forcing them, which meant that her only course of action was to tread on down the hallway she had yet to explore. As she wandered down it, she realized that her cursory glance had been correct: it was almost exactly like the hallway she had first walked down, with the same dull gray walls and door at the end, leading back into what she presumed was the lobby, but whereas the other one had had a single storage closet, this one hosted the doors to a boy's a girl's bathroom on its left side. 

The girl's bathroom was the first she encountered, so that was the one she decided to go into.

**\--FLOOR 1 GIRL'S BATHROOM--**

The bathroom was dark and damp and hadn’t been cleaned in weeks; somewhere from the corner there was an earthy smell that was spilling out, of mold or mildew or something else alive.  Gross. Whatever this building was, it was clear that it hadn’t been cleaned for weeks. She peeked into the nearest stall and, upon seeing what was growing in it, immediately decided to check out the grimy sinks instead.  The soap dispensers were surprisingly full, at least, but the edges of the mirrors were coated in a thick layer of black grime, and when she turned them on, the faucets sputtered a liquid that was probably more metal than water. 

Ren didn’t give a shit.  She brought a handful up to her mouth, choking on copper concentrated enough that she could feel it scraping against her teeth, and then drank again, forcing it down until the dryness in her throat had been washed away and the pounding in her head had gotten, perhaps, a bit less violent.  Eventually, Ren found herself just standing there, allowing herself to grow as numb as her fingers at the bottom of the icy stream. 

She felt exhausted.  Her eyes hurt. She would pass out on the floor if it wasn’t so filthy.

God, today was awful.

She would have stood there forever, had the thump she heard from the bathroom stalls behind her not knocked her out of her reverie.  Or, well, to call it a thump was perhaps inaccurate; if she forced herself to think about it, she guessed it sounded more like a missed footstep – someone slipping and catching themselves.  Which… didn’t really make sense, because she hadn’t seen anyone when she came in, and unless she had really zoned out under the water, it was doubtful that she wouldn’t have heard someone enter, so there was really no reason for a bathroom to be making such human noises.  She fumbled with the faucet - now pouring slightly cleaner water - and turned around, searching for the possible source of the noise.

…Oh.  In her haste to be alone, she had never noticed that the last stall was actually locked.  Hmm. As she walked over, hands still dripping with a wetness she hadn’t bothered to wipe off, Ren counted in her head.  There was the four in the front rooms, three by all the shelves, Amelie and Minta, Fuyuki and Eito, Tatsuo and the sort-of-whatever twins… and then finally herself, meaning that only fifteen of the students had been accounted for.  And, as she had already met eight of the boys, that meant that whoever she had yet to meet had to be doing…something… within the locked stall. 

She hadn't heard anyone enter.  Had they been in there the entire time?

She brushed her hands off on her shorts and knocked, but a minute passed and there was no response, nor even a sound to indicate that a person was behind there.  Well, that didn't make sense. Were they just standing there or something? Someone was in there, right? She leaned down, not entirely sure as to what she was expecting, and ended up having her suspicions confirmed: the thick white stockings and fidgeting Mary Janes of the final teenager were visible through the gap. 

Ren was struck with the sudden and violent urge to lay down on the slimy floor and drag herself into the bathroom stall, but she settled for once again knocking on the door.  No response; she considered just leaving (because honestly, she didn’t really care about whoever it was that had decided to stand in a bathroom stall for ten minutes) when the door finally, slowly, creaked open, and Ren, who had still been crouched down next to it, fell backwards to avoid getting hit.

The occupant of the stall had, indeed, been a girl.  She was taller than Ren but much pudgier, with a long face, oily black hair, and a denim jumper that would have looked more appropriate on someone a few years younger.  Hey eyes, under which were circles dark enough to be mistaken for bruises, widened upon seeing the girl beneath her. “Oh, sorry!” she gasped, her hands rising to cover her mouth with such a speed that Ren wondered how she didn’t manage to knock herself unconscious.  “Did I hit you? I didn’t realize that, um, you were so close to the door!”

“Were you standing in there the whole time?”

“E-eh?”

While the girl stood there, surprised, Ren pushed herself up and brushed off the back of her pants.  “I didn’t hear anyone come in while I was standing in here,” she explained. “So, unless you crawled out of the toilet…”

"Oh, no!  No - I didn't - that would be really gross!” the girl exclaimed, disgust overtaking her nervous expression for a second.   "No, I was, um - I was just - I was just doing some, um – I was in here, and I heard you come in, and I was just – waiting for you to leave.  I didn’t just wanna – burst out of here or anything – but, then, you took a lot longer than I thought, and – um – yeah.”

Experiencing the way this girl talked was the most exhausting thing Ren had ever done in her entire life.  It wasn't just the words, which were so hard to keep track of that she felt she had to pay double the amount of attention they deserved, but the way the girl moved as she said them.  She just could not keep still, shifting constantly from foot to foot, fiddling with the edge of her dress, clasping her hands together from time to time, moving her head until she watching Ren from the corner of her eye only to swing back around again, confidence waning just as soon as she had regained it.  It was such a drain that it took Ren a moment to realize that she had stopped talking. “Okay,” she said finally. 

The girl deflated.  “Yeah, um – sorry.” She fidgeted.  “Um – you're the, um, the girl that wouldn't wake up, right?” 

“Yeah.”

“Oh, okay!  Well, um…" She paused, picking at the already ravaged skin of her fingernails, and then screwed her eyes shut, drew in a breath, and straightened up.  "Since we haven’t met yet, we should – we should probably introduce ourselves.” She stuck out her hand. “I’m Sayaka Kakuhen! It’s – nice to meet you.” 

She was trembling, but it was the first time she had attempted eye contact.  Ren grasped the girl’s fingers in her own. “Ren Yusuke.” 

The handshake lasted a solid second before Sayaka released, turning back into a squirming, shifting mass.  "Um," she said, tugging at the edges of her sleeves, "so, are you also one of the, um... the Hope's Peak people?"

"Yes."

"That's what I thought, but I just wanted to be sure!  Are you one of the super smart people? It seems like everyone around here is really smart..."

"I do calligraphy."

Sayaka lit up.  "Oh, that's so cool!  I always wanted to do art stuff, but, but I'm not very good at it, you know?"

"What's your talent?"

"H-huh?"

"If you’re here, then you probably got into Hope’s Peak.  Everyone else told me their talents. What do you do?"

"Ummm," Sayaka said, gripping the sides of her dress and shifting her weight as she drew out the noise, “It's - I'm - well, um, don't laugh, but - I’m supposed to be the, um – Ultimate Conspiracy Theorist.  Which, I know is kind of… lame sounding.”

**[SAYAKA KAKUHEN – THE ULTIMATE CONSPIRACY THEORIST]**

****

Yeah, Ren could see it.

“I don’t even know how they found out about me, though,” Sayaka continued.  “I mean, I’m super careful about keeping it a secret, since it’s kind of – um – it’s a little embarrassing for people to know about it…  Like, I only ever talk about it online...”

Ren nodded.  "My calligraphy isn't really advertised, so I don't know how they found out about me, either."

"Y-yeah!  I know what you mean!  Like, everyone knows that Hope's Peak scouts out students, but no one knows anything a-about the scouting process itself.  People keep asking them about it, but they never get information on it! A-and, I know a lot of people don't really care, since, um, yeah, but I think it’s super suspicious how they get their information on students, since they refuse to disclose what their sources are, and – and it just seems really shady, you know?  Like, there’s no way that the stuff their doing isn’t – breaking the law, or invading people’s privacy, or – um – stuff like… that…” 

Although Ren would definitely classify herself among the uncaring masses, she had to admit that Sayaka could be pretty interesting when she wasn’t constantly tripping over her words.  "If they're doing something illegal, then the police are bound to figure out eventually."

"…W-well," Sayaka said, looking as though she were about to be physically ill, "um, I think that a lot of people would, um, agree with that, and in other situations the police would - probably intervene, but w-with Hope's Peak, I personally think that there's an issue with -"

Sayaka was interrupted by the crackling of static.  She flinched, nearly tripping as she did so, and whatever noise she made was drowned out by a high-pitched, almost inhumanly happy voice.  "Excuse me!" it echoed. "Attention, attention! Would the future class of Hope's Peak Academy please gather in the building lobby for a veeeeeeery important announcement?  Your attendance is mandatory!" Static crackled again, and the bathroom returned to its initial silence.

"Th-that was so scary..." Sayaka whimpered after a moment.  "Th-that was - do you think that was - whoever kidnapped us?"

"It didn't sound like any of the other students," Ren said, "so unless there's a seventeenth person that got kidnapped and, I dunno, fucked off somewhere, then it's probably our kidnapper."

"Y-yeah, that would be - that would be really dumb.  ...Um... I don't really - I don't wanna go, but I - I feel like they're gonna do something really -  b-bad if we don't..."

Ren had zero desire to go either but had to reluctantly agree.  Besides, she supposed, if their kidnapper was calling them to the front, then it was likely they would finally reveal why they had all been taken.  Information was key in dangerous situations, as her younger brother always liked to say. "Yeah."

Silence. "....Umm..." Sayaka said, fidgeting, "umm, well... I guess we should... we should... do you wanna, um, walk back together, then?  Since, it's the same way for both of us?"

No.  "I guess."  Ren dawdled another moment, but when it was clear Sayaka was still too nervous to start moving, turned around. 

"O-oh, okay!  Let's go!"

They went.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's all the student introductions!!! Do you like them? These two chapters have been in-progress for an entire year, with certain introductions having been re-written multiple times, so I'm just happy to finally have them done and posted, even if there is a bunch of stuff I could have done better. 
> 
> I have a tiny bit of the next chapter written, but not much, so I'm gonna aim for an update sometime next week - maybe Thursday or Friday again? That would be about a week, and would give me time to figure out how long it takes me to write a chapter. Hopefully I'll meet that deadline, but if it's a little late, don't be too surprised!
> 
> Next time: Ren and the others would like to leave. The entity that's trapping them there offers a way out.


	4. The Killing Game

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ren meets a talking cat. He’s annoying, in her opinion, but at least he explains why they’ve all been gathered here.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Since trying to remember the names of sixteen characters can be pretty hard, here’s a list of them.
> 
> AKIRA AIDA: Ultimate Cosplayer  
> YUUTO FUKASE: Ultimate Tailor  
> FUYUKI FUKUMITSU: Ultimate Geologist  
> DAI HIRANO: Ultimate Snowboarder  
> EITO HIROMI: Ultimate Competitive Eater  
> SAYAKA KAKUHEN: Ultimate Conspiracy Theorist  
> IZUMI KIDO: Ultimate Survivalist  
> TATSUO KITANO: Ultimate Magician  
> SHIORI KOTOBUKI: Ultimate Herbalist, Landon's sister  
> SUZUME OGAWA: Ultimate Pyrotechnician  
> AMELIE PEDROZO: Ultimate RC Helicopter Pilot  
> GINA SAKANE: Ultimate Poet  
> IKKI SHIBUYA: Ultimate Radio Host  
> MINTA SHIMON: Ultimate Literary Critic  
> LANDON YBARRA: Ultimate Linguist, Shiori's brother  
> REN YUSUKE: Ultimate Calligrapher 
> 
> I literally just finished writing this twenty minutes ago, and let me tell you, this chapter kicked my ass. I think I’d probably like to go back and edit it whenever I get free time in the future, mostly because it could definitely flow better (ESPECIALLY the ending, which is abrupt even after i rewrote it multiple times) and have less boring descriptions, but for now I just wanna move on.
> 
> Once again, if anything's incomprehensible, please tell me.

**\--LOBBY--**

Most of the students were already in the lobby by the time Ren and Sayaka arrived.  Not wanting to step into the middle of the arguing crowd, Ren opted to stay right by the door she had come in from; Sayaka, after some awkward shuffling and nervous glancing, decided to stand literally right next to her, arms drawn inward and fingers fiddling with the loose threads hanging from her sleeves.  Seriously, she was just - like, half a foot away, maximum. It was kind of awkward. Did no one here understand personal space? Well, Fuyuki did, Ren supposed; he was standing off in the corner, picking at the fake soil of the potted plant and flinching any time a student even glanced in his direction. He probably liked to stay as far away from people as possible.  Ren could respect that. 

Anyway, back to the problem at hand.  Ren had already gotten comfy, arms crossed and leaning back against the hallway doors, so there was no way that she was gonna move.  That left Sayaka, who Ren was not in the mood to converse with again. Whatever. Rolling her eyes, she settled back farther against the cool metal, resigning herself to waiting for whatever they hell they’d been called here for -

And was suddenly shoved to the ground by the door opening up behind her.  “Minta has arrived and demands to know what is going on!” said no other than Minta herself, nearly stepping on Ren’s arm as she stalked into the room.  She was followed by Tatsuo, whose shoes made no sense (who had shoes with buttons instead of, like, zippers or shoelaces?) and the twins, Shiori half-dragging Landon along.  

Minta’s demand was loud enough to actually draw the crowd’s attention.  “Well, gosh, we don’t fuckin’ know either,” Dai snapped. “Whoever called us here is too much of a pussy to actually show up.”

“Minta does not appreciate being spoken to in such a crass manner, but she will let it slide for now, so long as she is sincerely apologized to later.”

“Apologize??  What the hell - what, you want me to get down on my knees and suck the dirt off your boots, too, you crusty bitch?”

“Minta has not been able to change her shoes for a few days and is feeling quite gross, so if Dai were to do that for her, then she would be very pleased!”

And there Dai went, off the couch and trying to drag himself across the floor.  “Dude, come on,” Ikki said, “that’s just kind of embarrassing, now.”

“I dunno why we even gotta be here,” Izumi grumbled.  “I was doin’ shit.”

“Well, they kidnapped us, yeah?  They obviously don’t got the best of intentions, here, so if you guys didn’t show up, they’d probably make you, yeah?  That or, uh, kill ya, maybe.” 

“Maybe there’s something they want to show us?” Akira suggested.  “Something we had to see in person, so they couldn’t just tell us over the intercoms…?”

It was at this point that Tatsuo decided to dominate the conversation.  “Woooooow, you don’t know why they called every single one of us down here?  Isn’t it one-hundred-percent ooooobvious?” he asked, bouncing on the tips of his toes.  “You guys must all be  _ completely braindead _ if you haven’t figured it out yet!”

Suzume jumped and waved a hand around.  “Oh, oh, I know! Are they gonna introduce themselves?”

“Bzzzzzzt!  That’s absolutely wrong!”

“What?  Aw, man… I was so sure, too!  I’ll have to think harder for next time.”

“M-maybe they’ll tell us why we’ve been kidnapped?” Shiori asked.

“Wrong again, wrong again!  You guys get one more try, but only one more, okaaaay?”

Gina crossed her arms.  Akira had gotten that makeshift cane to her after all, Ren noted; they had even carved a hold into the top and tied a twine bracelet around it.  “Is there literally any reason why you’re being so obnoxious right now? You’re probably just gonna say something creepy, like ‘Ooohh, they’re gonna murder every last one of us! Wowie!’ or something.”

Tatsuo flounced over to Gina, footsteps muffled by the murmuring of other students, and wrenched the cane from her hand.  “Ding ding ding!” he said, tapping her once on the head he time said it. “Sakane, you may be an incredibly rude, loud-mouthed little snoot, but you really understand me.  You’ve really dug around my slimy internal organs and yanked out my entire hidden heart. You’re exactly right! They’ve called us all here to kill us. We’re all going to die!”

“K-kill us?” Shiori gasped.

“That’s preposterous,” Landon huffed.

“I, ah, would agree with that,” said Yuuto, who was doing a very poor job of appearing calm.  “I don’t see any reason as to why anyone would want to - do us harm, let alone… kill us.”

“Really, Fukase?” Tatsuo cried, whirling around and tugging on the ends of his scarf chain.  “Really? Reeeeaaaally? You can’t think of a single, individual reason as to why the kind and generous people who hunted us down on the streets like dirty little rats, drugged us, and then dumped us in this super gross building would want to hurt us?”

“W-well, I - I, ah -”

“Oh, honestly, they aren’t going to kill us,” Landon interrupted.  “If they had wanted to, they probably would have gone and done it already.  You shouldn’t antagonize Yuuto like that.”

“Wow, Ybarra, you’ve gone and proven that you’re an idiot for the millionth time today!  They couldn’t kill us before because Yusuke over there refused to wake up, and killing people who are sleeping would be super duper  _ boooor-iiiing _ .  Now that every single one of us is awake, we’ll be aware of when the guns all drop down from the ceiling and shoot us full of bullet holes!  Oh, oh, or maybe instead the room will fill with poisonous gas until our lungs dissolve, and we’ll choke and die on our own organs? Wouldn’t that be suuuuuuuper exciting?”

“That’s disgusting,” Gina said.  “What is  _ wrong _ with you?”

“They probably gathered us for  _ something  _ bad, but I doubt it’s to kill all of us,” Eito interjected.  “If they wanted to see us scared, as you suggested, then there’d be better ways of doing it than to kill us when we’re all arguing with each other.”

“I would agree,” Amelie spoke up.  “To kidnap all of us in such quick succession, give us free roam of this unknown place for a few hours, and then to merely kill us.. Well, it would be quite disappointing, don’t you think?  There’s no build-up at all. It’d be a waste, after we’ve all been gathered here. Why, if I had kidnapped us, I would surely have had something more interesting in mind.”

“I don’t care why we’re here,” Dai snapped.  “The minute that guy steps in here, I’m gonna beat the shit outta him.”

“Hm?  And how would you do that?  You’re currently lying on the floor with no way of getting up.  You’re more likely to cause yourself harm than to successfully take on our kidnappers.”

Dai started yelling, and the room once again devolved into chaos.  Ren, once again righted and leaning back against the doors (a good two feet from Sayaka this time, who didn’t even seem to notice her standing there), took the opportunity to zone out.  She didn’t really care why they were there, to be honest. Whatever the reason was, she just wanted their meeting over quick so that she could lay down in a place where teenagers weren’t screaming their heads off at each other.  Ugh, seriously - Minta’s voice was getting shrill enough to reach broken recorder territory. Maybe Ren could escape to the storage room? If she rolled under one of the shelves, there was no way that someone would bother her. The tile flooring would probably be pretty uncomfortable, though...

She was just starting to consider the possibility of just straight-up turning and leaving when a voice cut through the chatter.

"Wow!  You kids sure are noisy!"

Ren blinked.

She looked down. 

She stared.

Standing beside her was a stuffed cat that came up almost to the middle of her thighs.  One half of it was white and fluffy and with a mostly friendly expression; the other half was a deep and oily black, offset by a sharp grin and the glowing red of its jagged eye.  

She had not heard it walk up next to her.  Evidently, neither had anyone else.

"Holy shit, what is that?"

"Did that cat just talk?"

"A cat just talked?  What?"

"Was that there the whole time?"

"Is this some kind of joke?"

"Silence, silence everyone!" the cat said in its shrill voice, holding out its paws.  "Please, everyone, calm down! I know that I am incredibly handsome and that you all just can't stop talking about me, but there are some important announcements I'd like to make before we get started!"

In the incredulous silence, the cat waddled its way through the crowd to the front desk, where, with movements that might have been funny in an entirely different situation and atmosphere, it hoisted itself up.  “There!” it said. "Now I can see all of your hideously unattractive faces!" It snickered - an almost hiccuping noise - and continued before anyone could complain. "Now! Ahem, ahem. Good morning, future students of Hope's Peak Academy.  Or, should I say, good afternoon? You guys sure are lazy, waking up in the middle of the day and all!"

“It’s not our fault we were drugged,” Gina snapped.

"Hmph!  And it's not  _ my _ fault you guys can't handle a little anesthesia!  Honestly, you ultimates are supposed to be amazing, but here you are, blaming me for your own problems..." It scuffed a paw upon the fake wood.  "But that's okay, because now you've got me to help you out. I am Mononeko, and I will be your new Overseer for the duration of your stay here. And where IS here, you ask?  Well... it's super top-secret! I can't tell you! For now, I'll call it the 'Super-Duper Top-Secret Facility for some Super-Duper Talented Students'! SDTSFSDTS for short."

Somehow, it managed to pronounce the acronym as though it were a single word.  

There was a pause.

"This is stupid..." Izumi muttered.  Ren had to agree.

"That was not helpful at all.  Minta thinks that you are just wasting our time!"

“Okay, it’s definitely joking, right?” Ikki asked.  “There’s no way any of this is real. Like, you don’t kidnap a person and then send a cat to tell you why.  Ma must’ve left the stoves on and now I’m hallucinatin’ again.”

“ _ What are you even talking about? _ ” Gina hissed.  “No one bothered to answer me before, but is that, like, an actual cat, or is it just someone dressed as one?”

“I dunno, but I  _ can _ tell you that he... is  _ very _ cute,” Suzume said, nodding gravely as she did so.

"I believe that it's a machine poorly designed to look like a stuffed version of one," Amelie commented lightly.  "How childish."

“Childish?  More like they’re fuckin’ cowards,” Dai spat through the carpet.  “How come you don’t talk to us in person, huh? Too busy pissin’ yourself to show up?”

“Huh?” Mononeko said.  “Huh, huh? But I  _ did _ show up.  See? I’m totally real!  I would let you touch me, but I don’t want your filthy druggie hands staining my pristine fur.”

Shiori chimed in before Dai could explode.  “Okay, so… Mononeko is clearly a means through which our kidnapper is talking to us… and he says that he is overseeing us during our stay at… um… the Super-Top-Secret… Place.  Whatever that may be.” Her summary finished, she turned to the aforementioned cat. “But, I don’t understand why we’re here in the first place? What are you ‘overseeing’?”

"Yeah!" Dai shouted.  "What, you think you can just go around, kidnappin' people off the streets and telling them that they gotta listen to you now?"

Mononeko huffed.  "You guys are so impatient!  I was trying to give you some time to take in that information before I explained it, but no, it's all about me, me, now, now, blah blah blah disrespect authority.  I'll have you know that all of this was done for the good of you ungrateful brats! See, we gathered you all here together - all of you, the future students of Hope's Peak Academy, the best and most talented in the entire great nation of Japan - so that you could get to know each other before the term starts!  Think of it like a little getting-to-know-you thing."

"Hmph!  Minta does not remember agreeing to such a thing, nor would she ever do so!" 

"I never heard about this either," Yuuto said, an edge of panic creeping into his voice.  "I didn't tell anyone that I was going to be gone for a while. I don't really have the time to be doing something like this...!"

"They're obviously lying," Gina hissed.  "There's no way this is some - get together thing.  They  _ literally  _ kidnapped us.”

Ikki rubbed the back of his neck.  "I gotta agree with ya there, Gina.  Unless I’ve got, like, amnesia or somethin’ - which, ya know, too much anesthesia, so maybe - then like Minta, I don’t remember agreeing to come along.  I do remember the whole ‘being yanked off the street’ thing, though. Pretty shady.”

"Well, you know teens these days," Mononeko said, plopping himself down on the edge of the counter and swinging his legs.  "They're always on their phones, looking at pictures instead of at other people... They'd rather die than have to talk to each other face to face.  Communication is failing and it'll keep failing unless we start now! Which is why we have decided to implement this super brand new, super top-secret bonding experience!"

Well then, Ren thought while the rest of the students struggled to process the ludicrous story that had been presented to them.  That was definitely horseshit. Were they allowed to leave yet?

Landon, having had enough nonsense for one day, huffed and folded his arms.  “I never got any notice about this event, and neither did Shiori. In fact, I’ve never heard of mandatory pre-semester bonding sessions until just now, so I highly doubt that this is a real event, let alone one that was planned out by a member of the Hope’s Peak Education Education Board.”  He pushed his glasses up. “Everything you’ve done so far has felt highly unprofessional. Are you even affiliated with the school?”

“Are you sure that you’re the Ultimate Linguist?  Because you can’t even understand the impeccable Japanese flowing out of these beautiful vocal chords!  I already told you that this is a new thing we’re doing, so of course none of the old students would know about it, and obviously, we didn’t tell you about it, since obviously, none of you would want to come.  And as for myself? Well… if you really wanna know… then I guuuueeeeessss you could call me a concerned third party, but I would personally call myself an affiliate! After all, isn't everyone affiliated with Hope's Peak Academy nowadays?  It's so prestigious and famous and wonderful that it affects everyone! Even babies have some kind of stock in it! They all want you to have a happy fun three years, and I want to help you out by making you all have a smooth and friendly start."

“Oh, okay!”  Suzume said. “I was pretty confused before, because I’d never heard of it either, but that makes sense.”

"Um," began Akira, "So, eh heh, if you're really telling the truth -"

"He's obviously not,"  Gina interjected.

"- and, um, and we are all just here to make friends, then... how long are you keeping us here for?"

"I am telling the truth.  I care about you guys very, very deeply!  And as for your second question: well, we value your development as individuals over here at SDTSFSDTS, and so when each person gets out is dependent on you!"

"That... doesn't really make any sense, nyeh."

"It will in a second!"  After a movement so fast that Ren couldn't see where he had pulled it from, Mononeko was suddenly holding a large scroll of paper and a piece of tape.  "It's time for the other major thing I wanted to introduce to you guys: the List of Rules!"

"Rules?" Shiori asked.

"Yep!  Rules! You kids are a bundle of squishy hormones and unstable emotions.  Who knows what could happen if we let you run around unchecked? Why, you might try and do something... indecent!"

"I don't see why I gotta follow some... dumb rules," Izumi groused.

"Well, I'm the Overseer, which means that you students have to do whatever I say, since I'm infinitely wiser and far more handsome than all of you combined.  And you shouldn't dismiss these so quickly, Izumi; there might be some on there that you'll really like. Here, take a look!"

With that, Mononeko turned around and unfurled the scroll; before anyone could react, he sprung upwards and stuck it to the front of the file room door. 

The list was crude and appeared to have been written in bright red paint.  Various parts had been crossed out and re-written in what looked like black marker.

**\--ooo--**

**THE OFFICIAL LIST OF RULES FOR OFFICIAL HOPE'S PEAK STUDENTS**

 

  1. __Students are free to explore the Super-Duper Top-Secret Facility for some Super-Duper Talented Students (SDTSFSDTS) with minimal restrictions.__
  2. _All students are prohibited from leaving the SDTSFSDTS unless approved by an authoritative entity._
  3. _Violence against Overseer Mononeko is strictly prohibited._
  4. _Tampering with cameras or other such recording equipment is prohibited._
  5. _Anyone who murders a fellow student will be allowed to leave the building, unless they are discovered._
  6. _Additional rules may be added if necessary._



 

**\--ooo--**

There was silence as people took in the list.  It was broken by Yuuto's hesitant cough.

"Um," he said, taking his eyes off the list to look at the cat, "could you-" He coughed again.  "Could you explain this one, please?"

He had his finger pointed such that it hovered just above the word "murder."  Mononeko continued to give its unflinching smile. 

"It means exactly what it says!" it said, gesturing wildly.  "If you reeeeeally wanna get out of here, you guys better start killing each other."

"Killing each other."

"Exactly!  We discussed it, you know, and we thought that it might get a little bit boring if all you guys could do was talk to each other, but we were kind of stumped as to how to make your stay more interesting.  Obviously, if we gave you internet or something, you'd just try and contact other people, and it’s not like we have any books or movies lying around... 

“So, we eventually decided that it’d be fun if we all played a game: the Killing Game!  The Killing Game’s rules are very simple: you’re all expected to stay in the SDTSFSDTS and get to know each other really really really really well, but if it turns out you wanna  _ leave _ the beautiful facility we have here, you have to prove you really mean it: you’re gonna have to kill one of your classmates!” He pressed his paws against his face and squirmed around.  “Ooooohhhhh, I’m excited already!”

Murmuring.  Yuuto looked as though he were going to be ill.  

"That's messed up..."

"We have to kill someone?"

"This is all just a joke, right?"

“I thought you said this was a friendship thing!”

"Oooh, I see, I see!" Tatsuo piped up.  "So everything you said before about us getting to know each other was toooootally wrong, right?  You just wanna see us stab and choke and drown and murder each other! You were just telling us all that other garbage because you love wasting  _ all of our time. _ "

Mononeko straightened into a cartoonish gesture of surprise.  “What? Me, waste your time? I would never ever do that. You guys are way too precious and important for me to tell you anything BUT the truth!  And that truth is… That I care, deeply, about each and every one of you, and I want you to be able to form genuine connections with each other. This is why we’re having the Killing Game!  What better way is there to get to know who someone truly is than through a life-or-death situation?”

“Minta thinks all of this is preposterous, and that you are a disgusting little cat-rag telling us disgusting little things,” Minta snapped.  “Minta declares that you are unfit to oversee anything, and that you should let her leave right this instance!”

Mononeko tsked - an almost tinny sound - and shook his head.  “As much as everyone would probably love to see you gone, Minta -”

“ _ What is that supposed to mean?! _ ”

“- your ol’ pal Mononeko just can’t do that!  The only way you’re getting out of here is if I give you permission, and I’m not sure that anything other than murder could possibly convince me...”

Minta’s expression soured more than it already had.  “Minta does not need your permission, then. She will leave on her own.”

“How are you supposed to do that when you don’t know where the exit is?”

Minta drew herself up to her full height, chin raised up and arms daintily crossed.  “Th-then Minta will locate the exit herself! Minta doubts it will be that hard.”

“You can’t do that!  That’s super-duper-uber not allowed… and besides, you’d never even find it!    You’d spend countless hours on a fruitless search. It’d be absolutely hilarious, but also an incredible waste of time.  As your new Overseer, I must immediately inform you not to do that. Spend your time on healthier endeavors, like figuring out how to kill your classmates!”

And there went Minta’s calm; she took two sharp steps forward and slammed her hands down on either side of Mononeko.  “Minta does not want to do that!” she shrieked, voice cracking on the final words. “ _ Minta wants to leave! _ ”

“What if Minta were to actually find the exit?” Eito,  who had been quiet since Mononeko’s appearance, finally asked.  “Even if you hadn’t given her permission, she would still leave, but that would mean that she had broken the second rule.  What would happen to her, then?” 

He gnawed on his thumb as he waited.  Mononeko sagged. “You’re not really thinking about breaking the rules and doing that, are you?” he asked, taking a step forward.  “If you guys were really picked by Hope’s Peak, then there’s no way you’d be rulebreakers. You’re supposed to be the best of the best… the kindest, nicest, most special kids in the whole wide world… And yet here you are, talking about defying poor old Mononeko.”  He swooned in sorrow. “If I had a heart, it would have shattered into a million times by now!”

“No one’s breaking any rules,” Eito explained.  “I was just wondering about what would happen if we did.  Hope’s Peak students are supposed to be inquisitive, right?  I’m just curious. It’s just a hypothetical scenario.”

Despite Eito having been the one to ask, Mononeko kept his eyes locked with Minta’s glare as he answered.  “Well, if you really want to know… If you did any of those things, then obviously, we have to punish you. And that punishment… is forceful removal from the student community.  After all, if you’re breaking a rule, then that makes you a rulebreaker, and there’s no way rulebreakers can be Hope’s Peak students! So why would we let you participate in a Hope’s Peak student-exclusive bonding event?  That wouldn’t make any sense at all.”

“So your punishment… would be to let us leave?” Akira  asked.

“Let you leave?  Nahhhh. Not only does that make the second rule completely pointless, but it wouldn’t accomplish anything.  We’d just be letting another useless, talentless person back out into the world. The best thing to do in this situation is… well, we would just have to kill you instead!”

There was the flash of steel and Minta was stumbling back, trembling eyes fixed upon a set of knife-like claws now occupying the space where her chest used to be, sprouting from the fluffy fur of Mononeko’s outstretched paws.  Those could go straight through a person, Ren thought, something other than her usual apathy shuddering through her veins. A half-second later and they actually would’ve.

Ikki flung out his arms.  “Holy shit!”

Gina startled.  “What? What’s going on?”

“Wow!  What a showoff!” Tatsuo cried.

Mononeko chuckled.  “That was some really impressive reaction time, Minta,” he said, retracting the claws back.  They were so long - how did they even  _ fit _ into his arms?  “Just kidding. It was absolutely awful.  The only reason you aren’t overly expensive mincemeat right now is because I decided to be a little slower than usual.”  He tilted his head to make the whiter half more prominent. “You’re vewwy welcome.”

“Y-you -” Minta spluttered, hand pressed against her chest as though to slow down her breathing, “you almost killed m-Minta…”

“Yeah… I thought about it… But, as much as your obstinance emotionally hurts poor ol’ Mononeko, you didn’t technically break any rules.  What kind of overseer would just senselessly murder the darling, hopeful students he’s supposed to look after? Certainly not me!” 

“Ah,” said Eito, nodding, “so it was an intimidation tactic.”

“Sharp knives,” Izumi, who had been close to the action, muttered.  “Both ends were filed… definitely could slip through your ribs.”

Mononeko shook his head and patted his cheeks.   “Stop it with the compliments, I’m blushing, I’m blushing!  My lovely claws ARE super sharp, but I prefer not to use them.  Blood’s just so hard to get out of your fur, you know? Usually I’ll use one of our other disciplinary methods for nasty students,  like gas or guns or suffocation or drowning or - oh, I don’t know. Something else cool like that.”

There was silence as no one quite knew what to say.  Mononeko swung back and forth, grabbing his tail and bringing the tip of it up to his mouth as he thought.  “Hmm… let me think, let me think… Hmm… Oh! Yes! Yes, I think I’ve done it!”

“Done what?” Suzume asked.

“I’ve done everything on the list!  I’ve told you guys everything you need to know!  Do you guys know what that mean? Huh? Do you?” He didn’t wait for the students to respond.  “It means that this meeting is finished! You’re dismissed to do whatever you like now, and I’m dismissed to not have to see your beautiful little barf-faces for a while.”

He turned and began to lower himself off the desk.  “Hey, um, hold on,” Yuuto said as he plopped onto the ground, “I still have some questions I was hoping to ask…”

“If you wanted to ask questions then you should have raised your hand during the lecture,” Mononeko scolded.  “Now you’ll have to go to another student for help.”

“I… what?  What lecture?”

Landon adjusted his glasses.  “I have some questions I’d like to ask as well.”

“Me too!”

“We’re not - we’re not actually supposed to murder people, right…?”   

“My life doesn’t revolve around you brats, you know!”  Mononeko huffed. “If you really wanna talk to me, then you’ll have to do it tomorrow during my office hours.”

“Fine,” Landon said.  “When are your office hours?”

“Eight A.M. to ten P.M. every day except for today.”

“You just don’t want to talk to us anymore!” Gina snapped.

“Gina, you are so, so smart.  That is exactly correct. Anyway!  Ren, could you  _ please  _ be a lovely lady darling and open this door for your dearest Overseer?”

Ren blinked, suddenly coming back into herself, and looked down to see Mononeko’s red eye trained upon her.  She had been too busy blankly staring at the crowd to notice him walk over. 

Well.  As annoying as Mononeko was, she wanted this meeting to end as quickly as possible, and so she pushed herself off the door - oof, big mistake, she could hear her back crack as she did it - and yanked it open.  Mononeko went through but turned around right as she released the handle, leaving Ren with the image of his smug, snickering face.

The door slammed shut.  It was silent for exactly one and a half seconds before everyone began shouting at once.

God, Ren wanted to go home.  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ren's expression after seeing Mononeko for the first time:  
> https://flic.kr/p/28R5de9
> 
> Ensemble scenes are not my jam, so I'm sorry that this one wasn't great and took a week too long. At least I learned a lot while I was writing it, and so the next chapter should be a lot better! Speaking of the next chapter, it should be up in either one/two weeks - hopefully a shorter time than this one?? I dunno man.
> 
> Next time: Part Zero ends as the students freak out and discuss what to do next.


	5. Moving Foward

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everyone argues about what to do next.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry that this is a few days late - I was really busy these last two and a half weeks with moving back to college and getting used to classes again. Anyway, I know I said this was gonna be the end of the prologue, but after some thinking, I decided to include the next chapter in it. I think it ends things a bit more neatly. 
> 
> As usual, if you see something wrong, please let me know! I should probably wait until tomorrow to post this so I can re-read it with fresh eyes, but I'm pretty happy with what I read and I just wanna get it out here so I can start writing the more interesting parts.
> 
> EDIT 9/3: just fixed a few mistakes!! Notably, Eito calls the place they're in a school, which it isn't.

**\--LOBBY--**

In the short time that she was awake, Ren had managed to established three facts about her situation.

  1. This was bullshit.



Actually, no, that was less a fact and more common sense, which meant she had to start over.  Ugh.

  1. She and the 88th class of Hope’s Peak Academy had been kidnapped.
  2. An entity named Mononeko had explained that the only acceptable way to become un-kidnapped was to kill a classmate.  



Wait, now that the other reason had been crossed off, she still needed a third fact, right?  She wished she was writing this down. It’d be much easier to think if she could see the thoughts that were so hard to keep ahold of.  It was hard to do any kind of mental task when everyone was talking so loudly.  The panicked voices of her classmates were like screws slowly turning, each minute boring a deeper and deeper hole into the sides of her head.  The current topic of conversation was, of course, the bizarre events that had happened moments prior.

“What even was that?” Suzume cried.  “That was like something out of a super-weird anime!  Does that make us anime protags?”

“More like a super shitty anime.  Like hell I’d watch anything with a cast this bad.”  Dai paused, fiddling with a loose string of carpet, then showed off his sharp teeth.  “Ha! I bet you’d be the one to die first! You’d totally break a mug or some shit and then Mononeko would gut you.”

“Whaaat?  There’s no rules like that, are there?”  She whirled her head around so fast her pigtails slammed into her face.  “Are there??”

“Um… it says you can’t break cameras…” Akira said.

“Ohhh, but what if the mug is a camera?  What if there are hidden cameras around and I don’t know about it?”  

“I highly doubt Mononeko would be able to hide a camera like that,” Landon stated, pushing up his glasses.  “However, seeing the callous way he dealt with Minta’s taunting, I doubt that he would show much mercy to those who broke the rules unaware.”

“Uuuuaaaaaagh!!!”

Minta stomped her foot. “M-Minta will not stand for this kind of treatment, nor will she hang around one minute longer in places where strange creatures try and hurt her.  She is going to call her father and - _where is Minta’s phone?_ ”

“None of us have phones,” Gina said.  “They were obviously taken. Weren’t you paying attention earlier when we went over this?”

Earlier?  ...Oh. She must have been talking about when Ren was still asleep.  She patted down her own pockets and confirmed that they, too, were empty - or, mostly empty.  Her library card was still in her one pocket, battered as always (maybe even more so? There was a scratch across her name she didn’t remember ever being there), as well as a few heavily creased bills (rejected by the vending machine) and…

…

…?  Where was that letter…?  It wasn’t where she had stuck it.  She checked behind - but, no, her back pockets were empty too.  Her shoes? No - as big as her feet were, her shoes were too small to hide an envelope in without the corners poking her toes.  That, and she had _never put it there in the first place._  What a stupid train of thought.  

Two possibilities, then: it had either fallen out of her pocket, or her kidnappers had taken it from her.

Uggghhhhhhh.

While she had been searching her pockets, the conversation had trudged tortuously onward.  Apparently, they had gone from blind panic to discussing what Ren agreed was the most pressing issue at the moment: the fifth rule of the list Mononeko had given them.

“It’s obviously the reason why he kidnapped us,” Gina was saying.  “He wants to see us kill each other. Everything else is just bullshit.”

Shiori fidgeted, hands grasping tighter to her brother’s sleeve.  “That rule was vague, wasn’t it? It said we could only leave if the murderer went undiscovered, but…  what does that mean?”

Dai sniffed.  “It means that no one can find out you did it, duh.”

“But, what are the specifications of that?  How long must a person wait until they are considered ‘undiscovered’?”

Amelie tilted her head.  “And why do you care, hmm?  Could it be that you’re planning something as we speak?”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Landon snapped.  “Shiori would never kill anyone.”

“Eh heh,” Akira began, “does it really matter what the rule means?  We can’t ask Mononeko anyway, since he stopped talking to us, and, um, so long as no one... hurts anyone, we don’t have to worry about it!”

“That’s not true," Eito argued.  "Any information is important in situations like this, even if it may not seem relevant.  In this case, I think that the rule was left purposefully vague. It’s possible that Mononeko was planning to add on some awful condition to it in the future, considering that he just now enjoyed dragging things out.”  He paused, nibbling at his ring finger. “We also need to know it in the event that a murder does end up occurring.”

Tatsuo rocked back and forth on his heels.  “That’s riiiiight! I wonder how it’s gonna happen, huh?  Maybe it’ll be an accident? The super-duper first degree?  Ohhh, or maybe Mononeko’ll do something and someone will snap under the stress!  There’s a lot of stuff we have to be prepared for!”

Yuuto sputtered, “No one has to prepare for anything like that, since it’s... not going to happen."

“Hm?  But we were told to kill each other in order to escape,” Amelie countered.  “Do you believe that everyone will choose to stay here instead?”

Yuuto blinked, a crease forming between his eyebrows.  “I doubt that anyone would want to stay here.  I certainly don't.”

“So a murder _will_ occur, then.”

“N-no, that isn’t…” He fidgeted.  “No one’s going to… kill each other.  What, they’d do it just because a talking _cat_ told us to?  That’s insane, isn’t it?  No decent person would do that.”

“Mm.  You’re right.  No decent person would ever do that, so surely all sixteen of us, who met only a few hours ago and know nothing about each other,  would fit that descriptor.” Her smile morphed into something almost condescending, fingers curled into the dip between her lips and chin.  “Do you really trust in a group of strangers so greatly, or are you just naive?”

“Whaat?” Suzume asked, drawing out the word until everyone was looking at her.  “But killing’s, like, super bad! And all of you guys seemed pretty cool, so I don’t think anyone here would ever do that.”  

“Are you sure about that?  Can you truly say that none of us have any violent tendencies?”  A puff of something - a laugh? A scoff? - bubbled beneath her closed lips.  “Perhaps I should rephrase that. If Mononeko brought us here to kill each other, it stands to reason that he has ways to make us do so.  Do you know everyone well enough to say that none of us, when pushed to our limits, have the ability to kill?”

Suzume just stared at her, eyes wide and uncertain, mouth parted slightly for an argument that wouldn’t come.  The room fell into uneasy silence as each student sized up the other, trying to imagine blood staining their face or a knife brandished in their hands.  From the little she had gotten to know about her peers, it was almost stupidly easy, Ren thought. Izumi with that terrible axe. Tatsuo and his “sharp” playing cards.  Amelie in the kitchen with Minta in the freezer and that same sardonic grin she wore now, watching the horror her words had wrought.

Yes, it was impossibly easy to imagine - but what about the aftermath?  She looked to her left. Sayaka stood there, fiddling with the edges of her trembling hair.  Could she see her dead? Ren imagined her collapsed upon the doorway’s edge, stringless and slumped and still for the first time today, denim dress stained red from the ooze behind her sternum - but the image was grainy, shot on a cheap camera in some universe far away.  The knife was just a prop and the blood was fake. Her chest rose with breaths too shallow to be caught on film. The only death Ren had ever seen was in movies.

“I don’t think that this is an issue,” Landon said flatly.

Amelie turned her emotionless eyes upon him.  “Hm? Why do you think that? Please, enlighten us.”

Landon pushed up his glasses.  “The only reason why anyone would kill is to escape.  However, considering that all of us were kidnapped, it stands to reason that we’ve been reported missing by this point in time.  The police are surely out there looking for us, and they’ll certainly find us before our being here is even an issue.”

Minta smirked.  “Of course!   Minta is an incredibly famous individual whose father loves her very much.  She will certainly have been missed by now!”

In spite of the sour expression Minta's words had left her with, Gina nodded. “We’re also Hope’s Peak students, technically, which means that for once the academy’s really creepy surveillance of students will come in handy.  If they didn’t witness the kidnappings themselves, they definitely heard that we went missing. They’re probably badgering the police about finding us.”

“Although Hope’s Peak has definitely been putting pressure on the JPD, I don’t think we should be too excited about it,” Eito cautioned.  “Missing persons cases usually take weeks to solve, so even if things get sped up we could be here a while. We don’t even know how much information there is to go off of.”

Amelie tapped a gloved finger against the bottom of her jaw.  “The sixteen of us were taken in, what, two days, perhaps? Unless all of us happened to live in the same area, there’s simply no way that such a task could be accomplished unless our captors rushed the kidnapping.  Therefore, some kind of evidence must have been carelessly left behind.”

“I was in the southern part of Kyushu when I was kidnapped,” Yuuto said.  “School had just let out and I had some groceries I needed to get.”

“Well, I was in Hokkaido,” Dai groused.  “I always wanted to snowboard in Niseko but no, I had to get -”

“See?  It’s just as I said,” Amelie interrupted.  “They had to operate all across Japan, and thus made mistakes.  The police will surely latch onto those mistakes and find us decently quickly.”

Eito shrugged, his arm flopping back down to his side.  “Even then, it might take a few days to figure everything out.  We could be stuck here anywhere from two days to a month, depending.”

Sighing, Ikki summarized the information: “So, basically… We can hope for the police, but we can’t expect them to come right away or nothin’.  Great.” He flopped backwards, back curved over the arm of the couch. “Now what are we supposed to do? Wait for, like, a week?”

“Who wants to wait for a bunch of crummy police officers, huh?” Tatsuo asked.  “Isn’t that super booooooring? I bet they wouldn’t even save us! They’d see us and think we were the kidnappers and shoot us dead on sight!”

“I had hoped we were past all the death talk…” Shiori mumbled.

Yuuto made a noise that may have been a half-hearted clearing of his throat.  “If you’re that distrustful of the authorities, Tatsuo, then what do you recommend we do instead?”

“I don’t like your attitude, Fukase.  You’re making me feel bad about my rightful dislike of any and all armed forces.  Back me up here, Kakuhen! Surely the Ultimate Conspiracy Theorist would understand the dangers of democracy?”

Ren was close enough to hear the exact moment Sayaka stopped breathing.  An awful, twisted squeaking escaped her - the echo of whatever thought had been obliterated by her obvious panic - and that was all.  She stood in trembling silence.

Yuuto, awkwardly, came to her rescue.  “Yes, well, ehm - I think that Tatsuo’s right in that we shouldn’t just stand around waiting, as our priority should be getting out of here as fast as possible.”

“It would be pretty boring to just wait,” Suzume admitted.  “Mononeko said we don’t even have wi-fi!”

“I literally just said we don’t have our phones,” Gina complained.  “It’s not like we could use it even if we had it.”

“Maybe there’s a computer laying around?”

“ _Why_ would the people who kidnapped us give us a computer.  What _possible_ reason would they leave it lying around.”

“They wouldn’t give it to us, _duuuhhhh_.  They’d just, uh… forget about it, maybe?”

“Are you _serious?_ ”

“...Getting back on track,” Yuuto continued before Gina could lay waste to Suzume’s entire oblivious existence, “I think our best course of action is to investigate our surroundings and see if we can find out anything about where we are that might help us find a way out.

“It’d be horribly inefficient if we all just went off on our own,” Landon pointed out.

“We can form groups, then, and then each group could investigate something different!  Then we could all meet back here once we’re done and discuss together.”

Still half-off the couch, Ikki crossed his arms.  “It’s a decent way to spend time an’ all, but me and Dai aren’t gonna be able to help out or nothin’.”

“Ha!  Speak for yourself.”

“Dude, you’re still on the floor…”

“Oh, I’m sure we could find something for you two to do!” Yuuto reassured.  “Hm…”

Yuuto tapped a finger behind his ear, thinking.  Ren narrowed her eyes.

**_The Situation:_ **

_Yuuto has clearly taken control of the group (or, at least, holds some vague grasp on it right now) and wants us to look around the building with him._

**_The Breakdown:_ **

_‘We can form groups’ + ‘Yuuto’s pushy attitude’ ⇒ ‘Everyone will be forced to investigate’_

_‘Everyone will investigate’ = ‘Ren will investigate’_

_‘Ren investigates’ =/= ‘Ren gets to lie down and not be bothered for the rest of the day’_

**_The Conclusion:_ **

_Absolutely not._

“I already walked around the floor,” Ren said.  “There’s no point in looking at it again.”

Yuuto swiveled his head around and blinked, clearly surprised by her having finally spoken up.  A few feet away, Amelie watched with something almost like amusement on the edges of her smile. “I must agree with Ren,” she said in that smooth voice of hers.  “I believe we’ve all seen enough of this building to know there isn’t anything left to investigate. If you want to go running around then by all means go ahead, but I’d much rather stay here.”

“Isn’t it gonna be boring if you just wait here?” Suzume asked.

“I welcome the distraction from social media.  It allows me a few seconds away from the constant stream of love declarations and vaguely sexual threats my fans send me.”

“The comments are always weirdly sexual,” Landon muttered.  

“Especially about your hands,” Shiori agreed.  She gave Landon a hardly comforting part on the arm and then looked to Yuuto.  “I also want to leave, but the first rule states that there are restrictions to how much we can explore.  Won’t Mononeko get mad at us if we look around too much?”

Akira pushed his fingertips together.  “Eh heh… his claws were really sharp…”

As the dangerous implications of exploring out-of-bands seeped into the group’s consciousness, talking started up again.  Was exploration worth the possible risk? If they only looked around, was it considered breaking the rules? And finally:

“Is there even anywhere we can really look?” Shiori was saying.  “Has anyone seen anything worth looking into?”

“Ah, b-but see, ahm -” Yuuto cleared his throat, and the talking dulled to a murmur.  “Ahem. Yes. Well, what about that door there?”

He was referring to the door in the front of the lobby.  Everyone turned to look at it. “ ( ;; ´• w •̀ ) Um… what about it?” Akira asked.

“It’s definitely a door…” Suzume said, squinting.

Yuuto looked as though he were seconds away from breaking into a sweat.  “It is. And even though it’s locked, I think it’s worth looking into it again.”

Eito nodded.  “Whatever’s behind it is probably something Mononeko doesn’t want us seeing.”

“But won’t Mononeko be mad at us if we try and break it open?”  Shiori asked.

He gave a lazy shrug.  “There’s nothing in the rules against it.  If you’re worried, though, then it’s not like we have to actually open it or anything.  It’d be useful just to know if it can be opened.”

“Oh, like finding the lock!” Suzume said.  

Now that the conversation was finally back in his favor, Yuuto pounced.  “Yes, exactly, but it would be horribly inefficient if we all were to look at it together.  It’d be better if only a few people were to re-examine it while the rest of us went off and did something else.”

“Me and Dai could take a look,” Ikki suggested.  “Er, so long as someone helps us over there, yeah?  Although, it’s been a while… I might be okay moving around now.”  

“Piss off,” Dai spat.  “I’m not looking at the door.  I’m leaving, since you guys seem to think that everything I do is fuckin’ free comedy hour over here.”  

He continued to lay on the floor, his only movement being the slight and involuntary trembling of his hands.  

Minta stared pointedly at Dai, harrumphed, and then stuck her chin up.  “Now that Dai is done with his theatrics, Minta would like to announce that she also wishes to examine the door.  She thinks that she will have much better luck than these two useless boys.”

“Excuse me, but what the FUCK -”

“Now, Dai, you don’t need to use such rude language all the time,” Yuuto scolded.  He started a motion that might have been a stern finger wag, seemed to realize what he had been about to do, and ended up dropping his arm to his side like a dumbass instead.  “Ahem. I think that’s a great idea, Minta, although with your addition, we would need to add another girl… Oh, Gina! Don’t you think you would make a good last member?”

Wow.  Ren hadn’t seen someone look that unimpressed since - well, since, like, a week ago, actually.  Gina opened her mouth, closed, it, and then shook her head as though to dispel the thoughts that clung to it.  “Well, I was _hoping_ that I could look around somewhere else, since I’ve been stuck in here all day.  If you need a ‘girl,’ why don’t you get someone like Izumi to do it?”

“Ah, well, I thought you and Minta might get along, since you both… like… books…” At the increasing thinness of Gina’s mouth, Yuuto backtracked.  “A-and, um, you’re right, you’ve been in here all day! You’ve been around the door longer than any of us, so I think you’d be pretty good at finding out how to open it.”

“I literally can’t see anything I need to look for.”

“You could always try to feel around for something, perhaps?  You might be better at it than everyone else, because of, um…”

“Here, let me just walk up to the door right now and use my echolocation to find the lock.”

“You can do that?” Suzume gasped.

“No.”

“Oh.  I thought you were being sarcastic, but deep down, I guess I was hoping you were telling the truth… that would’ve been so cool.”  She bowed her head and banged a fist against her chest in mourning.

Yuuto cleared his throat.  “So, if there are no objections, then those will be the the people looking at the front door.”

With two members unable to move, one unable to see, and Minta of all people, Ren doubted that they would find out anything useful.

“Uh, should we look at the elevators too, or nah?” Ikki asked.

“I think you could all take care of that yourselves, although I’m not sure how much luck you’d have with getting them to work,” Yuuto admitted.

“We will look at them and find a way out of this disgusting floor,” Minta declared.  “Minta does not think the carpet has been cleaned in weeks.”

Akira snickered.  “He he. ( =^•̀ω•́^ )  If you wanna go to a different floor, then someone could look at the stairway, too!  If there’s elevators, then there’s probably another way down, right?”

“Can’t,” Izumi gruffed.  “There’re bars in the way.”

“Bars?”

“Oh, yes!” Shiori said, nodding.  “The stairwell’s been blocked off by a set of vertical metal bars.  You can stick your hand through them, but that’s about it.”

Landon pushed up his glasses.  “There must be some way to manually open them.  I was just about to go looking when the announcement came on.”

So they’d gotten away from Tatsuo after all.  Ren honestly hadn’t been expecting it. “Since you were interrupted before you finished, you two could go looking for a way down the stairs,” Yuuto suggested.  “If you want to have an equal number of people in each group, however, we should add two more people to help you.”

“I can go!” Akira said, puffing up his chest.  “I wanna see what it looks like.”

“You’d just need one more member, then -”

“I’ll go,” Suzume interrupted.  “Akira was telling me a story and I wanna hear the rest of it.”

“It wasn’t that exciting, he he…”

Yuuto frowned.  “Ah, but… the group wouldn’t really be equal then, would it?  Wouldn’t it be better if someone like - oh, I don’t know… ah...”

“I’m fine with Suzume joining us,” Landon said.  His sister nodded in agreement.

Yuuto bit his lip, a finger’s jerky tapping along his inner elbow being the only sign of his agitation.  “Well, I suppose it works…”

There was no doubt that the twins would be able to find something useful, but Ren was like eighty percent sure that Suzume was going to get her head stuck between the bars at some point.  Akira would have to spend the entire time getting her out or something dumb like that.

“Is there anything else that should be looked at?” Yuuto continued.

“I found another locked door in one of the cleaning closets!” Suzume said.  She winked. “I already opened it, though, so you guys don’t have to worry about it.”  

“If you already looked at it, then why’d you tell us about it?” Dai snapped.

“There was a set of doors I saw in the hallway,” Eito reported.  “It probably leads into another part of the building, but I couldn’t get them open.  Something was blocking it from the other side.”

“They weren’t locked?” Shiori asked.

“Nah.  They could open a little bit, but then they wouldn’t budge any further.”

“Excellent!”  Yuuto clapped his hands together.  “I’d be willing to take on that one myself.  Izumi, do you want to come with me? I think you’d be good at getting it open.”

In contrast to the self-appointed leader’s enthusiasm, Izumi’s expression was hard and unimpressed.  “I was gonna look at it, so I guess.” She smirked, displaying the sudden and feral glint of her teeth.  “If it ain’t locked, I can break the door down for ya instead.”

And there went Yuuto’s composure.  “Ah, hopefully we won’t have to… resort to that…”

“Hey, hey, what the hell?” Dai spat, and snorted.  “I’m way stronger than she is. I should be the one to do it.”  

Izumi took one look at him and jerked her head away, eyebrows creasing together.  “Tch.”

“Walk a little closer so I can shatter your legs and tie their noodley remains into a fuckin’ knot.”    

Showing some semblance of intelligence, Yuuto decided to step in.  “Dai, it's isn’t very polite of you to say such violent things.  Anyway!  To keep with the trend, we need two more people… hm…” When no one responded, he glanced around the room, eyes darting from person to silent person before finally landing on the plant in the corner - or, more accurately, at the boy behind the plant in the corner, who had managed to dig up half the fake dirt and was now shaping it into a cave-like structure.  “Fuyuki, how about you join us?”

Fuyuki blinked his wide, half-covered eyes.  His pupils drifted from the dirt pile to Yuuto and back again.  “...Okay…”

“Fantastic!  Now we just need one more person…”

Ren felt vaguely sorry for Fuyuki, but not really.  He looked so sickly that Yuuto was sure to bother him about his health, but at least it was him getting the weird shoulder touches instead of her.

“Ren!”

Oh.  

Oh, of course.

Of course of course _of course._

“Would you like to be our last member?”

 _No,_ she almost spat - but the idea of trying to argue made the space behind her eyes ache.  She did what she did best and ignored him instead.

“...Well, um, that’s great!  Now we just have the last group.”

Tatsuo, Eito, Amelie, and… oh, right, Sayaka existed.  An attention-seeker, a guy who stared out into space half the time, a girl who didn’t want to investigate, and the most nervous person Ren had ever met.  They were definitely going to get a lot done.

Yuuto also seemed to realize this as he stuttered, “W-well, I’m sure we’ll find - something for you to do!”

“I know!  We could just sit around and do absolutely nothing!” said Tatsuo… sarcastically, maybe?  It was hard to tell when he always had the same tone of voice.

Whatever his intent was, Amelie took him seriously.  “What a wonderful idea. I might just lie down right now.”

“Amelie, honestly, you can’t just avoid work like that.  Let me think a little more…”

“We already covered the three main points of interest,” Eito said.  “Our group could just look elsewhere and see if we find anything worth looking at.”

“Oh, I think that’s a great idea!” gushed Yuuto.  “There’s no doubt that something or another was overlooked when everyone scattered earlier.  You might even find something we wouldn’t have without extensive searching.”

“We could probably start with the storage room…”

“Mmmm.”

“Hey, could somebody help us out, over here -?”

“Laaandon, let’s go already!”

“Let’s wait for Akira first, okay?”

The focus of the crowd fell apart at this point, as with all the groups now formed, they each gathered together to discuss what they were going to do.  Landon’s group helped Dai and Ikki towards the front door and then set off right away; Eito’s group lingered in the lobby while Ren’s gathered around her (which, obviously, was less because they viewed her as a figure of authority, and more because she was the nearest to an exit).  

“It seems that everyone’s leaving now…” Yuuto commented, glancing around the group.  “I suppose we should all get going as well?”

Izumi tapped her foot.  Fuyuki looked desperately at the ground.  Ultimately, no one moved.

“Ah… do any of you happen to know… where the room is?  Ha ha…”

Izumi rolled her eyes, turning as she did so.  “I’ll show ya. Move.”

It took Ren a moment to understand the command, but once she did, she rolled her eyes and stepped out of the way.  With more force than she really should have used, Izumi pulled the door open and stalked forward, Yuuto and his shorter legs hurrying along behind her, trailed by Fuyuki, who had frozen at the sudden banging and had then taken a second to process what was going on.  

Ren did not follow them.  She dawdled by the exit, eyes shifting back and forth between the two areas it separated, when her gaze settled on the group by the front door.  It hadn’t even been five minutes and their two female members were already uncomfortably close, Gina drawn up to her full (albeit short) height and Minta bent down, arms crossed and eyes narrowed to makeup-heavy slits.  It was a sight that… Ren hadn’t been expecting, actually. She had thought Dai would be the one causing problems.

Minta opened her mouth, and ohhh MAN there was absolutely _no way_ Ren was sticking around for that obnoxious catastrophe.  She caught the door at the last second and forced it back open, slipping out into the quiet hallway.  At least it would be better than the arguing that started right as the door finally banged shut.

“Oh, Ren, why are you all the way back there?”

...Or, hm.  Maybe not.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ren was originally supposed to argue with Yuuto, but after rewriting the argument way too many times I scrapped the section. It just wouldn't come out right. 
> 
> There’s a lot I want to include in the next chapter (exploration plus the hopeful end to ensemble scenes for a few chapters PLUS the end of a day), AND I’m back in college, so I’m going to set the update date for 2-3 weeks instead. Things should go back to the usual time frame after it. 
> 
> Next time: The ACTUAL end to the prologue, feat. plot progression.


	6. Team Dumbass v. A Locked Door

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The area behind the sealed-off hallway door is explored as the day finally comes to a close.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I got sick and busy and couldn’t work on this for four-ish days but here it finally is!!! The monster-length end of Part Zero (or the prologue, if you prefer). I don't think I'll ever write this much in such a short time period ever again. I really should be waiting a few days to post this so I can edit it better (instead of just sticking with the on-the-go editing I've thus far been doing), but I'm just so excited to have this finished that I'm posting it now. 
> 
> Free time stuff will be coming up really soon, so if you have anyone you particularly want to spend time with (or DON’T want to), feel free to tell me! If no one comments or anything, I’ll just add in whatever characters I think would be good/make sense ^_^

 

**\--HALLWAY--**

Yuuto did this to spite her.

She could tell because she wasn’t stupid, despite the slowness her headache gave her.  She had refused everything he told her to do earlier, and that had irritated him. The entire idea to search in groups had probably been an elaborate way to force them to work together.

Case in point: his hand.  On her wrist. Unable to be shaken off.  “Truthfully,” Yuuto admitted as he pulled her down the hall, unaware of her attempts to get away, “I asked you to come with us because I wanted to keep an eye on you.  You looked a little faint, back in the lobby area.”

Had she?  Mostly she had been staring out into the crowd, eyes focused vaguely on whoever happened to be talking at any given point in time.  “Shiori has, like… actual medical experience,” Ren argued. Or, she assumed she did, but it was always possible Hope’s Peak had just been really, really desperate this year.  “She should be the one looking after me, if you really care about it.” That, and she probably wouldn’t be getting pestered like she was now if she were in that group instead.  

“Shiori’s group was already full, remember?”  Oh, that was right. The group had been filled by an arbitrary number of people that Yuuto himself had decided on.  That was correct. “I couldn’t just put you in there. It would have made things uneven.”

“You could have just switched her out.”  

“Ah, well…”  He looked away, biting his lip.  “You left before I could get a proper look at you, earlier.  Do you remember?” Ohhhh she knew it. She fucking knew it.  _ Spiteful _ .  He kept up that hesitant tone but she just _ knew _ that underneath it he was seething.  “I was just personally hoping to check how you were doing, especially now that you seem to be more, um…” 

“You look like shit,” Izumi, who was close enough to hear the conversation, supplied.  “You look as bad as this guy.”

She motioned with her head, as her hands were currently occupied with the doors.  Fuyuki, who had been scraping a fingernail up and down the wall, looked up in alarm.

“Thanks,” Ren said.  

“You’re welcome.”  

“So,” Yuuto said, finally releasing Ren’s hand (she snapped it back to her side) to clap his hands together, “how do you think we should go about this?”

He was, of course, referring to the set of double doors in front of them, which was, of course, what Ren’s group had been sent to open.  It wasn’t like they were going to be able to do it, Ren personally thought. She had tested them out earlier, and just a few tugs had told her that the only way any of them were getting in was by force - and, you know, considering how he’d nearly killed Minta for talking too much, there was literally no way Mononeko’d be down with one of them taking an axe to the doors.  

Fuyuki fidgeted. “Eito said… it wasn’t locked… but that something was blocking it…”

“Ah, so maybe we just need to push hard enough to knock it down?”

“Nothing was pushed up against it,” Ren said.  “There was probably something in the handles on the other side.”

“Oh, so we just need to, um… get it out somehow?”

Izumi rolled eyes.  “I’m just gonna break it,” she said, and rammed her shoulder into the doors.  

Yuuto’s back immediately straightened.  “Ah, Izumi, don’t be so violent!” he cried, rushing closer to her.  “You could injure yourself like that!”

Izumi paused in her approach to give Yuuto a flat look.  “I’ve done this shit before. It’s fine.” 

“You - what?”

“Abandoned cabins,” she said, stepping back to use her shoulder again.  “They’re good -”  _ bang _ “- for in the winter -”  _ bang  _ “- if you can’t make -”  _ bang _ “- a place yourself -”

Each time Izumi rammed the door, Yuuto jumped.  “Ah, Izumi… don’t you think it’s a little -  _ unbecoming  _ \- for you to do things like this…?”

Izumi, surprisingly, stopped.  Her hair made an awful, scratching noise as she turned it towards Yuuto. “Dunno what that means.”

“Huh?  You mean, ‘unbecoming’?”

She scrunched her nose up.  “All you keep saying fancy shit… It’s annoying.  I got no idea what any of you are tryin’ to say.” She brought her jagged fingernails up to her scalp and scratched at her matted hair.  “Anyway, this ain’t budgin’. Even the door don’t break.” 

“Well, there’s a small opening, right?” Yuuto asked.  “Maybe we could just try and slide whatever’s in the door out?”

“Nah.  Didn’t fee like a piece of metal or wood does.  S’probably a bunch of chains wrapped around the handle.”  She paused, fingers tapping against her chin. “Or, might be a lock…”

“You could probably just use something from the storage room to cut it,” Ren suggested.  There had to be bolt cutters amidst all the other weird shit.

“Didn’t see anything like that,” Izumi said.  “Could probably build it…”

“Break the windows,” Fuyuki whispered.

A wicked smile curled its way onto Izumi’s face.  “Ah ha ha! That’s what I’m talking about!” She gave him the most violent noogie Ren had ever seen.  “For someone so scrawny, ya give good ideas. Let’s break the windows!!!”

Yuuto, realizing that more violence was inevitable, began to panic.  “Izumi, you can’t just break through a window!”

“Yeah I can.  I’ve done it a few times before.  So long as you’re careful, you don’t cut yourself.”

“That isn’t what I meant at all!”

“I told ya, I don’t understand any of the shit you’re sayin,” Izumi said, lining her elbow up with the covered glass.  Her eyes were alight with future destruction. “Ya gotta speak like a real person if you want me to listen!”

“Izumi -!”

“ _ What are you miserable students trying to do to our facility’s beautiful doors? _ ”

There was a crystalline crackling as Izumi’s elbow went through the window, and then the corner hushed, save for the faint clink-clink-clink of glass upon the dirty tile.   

That shrill voice…

… 

Oh, no…

“You said your office hours were done for today,” Ren said, her teeth grinding together as she turned to stare at the faux-horrified pose of Mononeko.  Once again, he had shown up without any of the group noticing. If only his voice could be as quiet as his footsteps; just the one sentence made her wish he would go away already.

Mononeko wiggled in place.  “They are… for answering questions!  But that’s not all an Overseer does, dontcha know?  They also gotta investigate when their charges are doing something super suspicious!  So. Why, exactly, are you guys all out here? And whyever would Izumi be breaking one of my facility’s very expensive doors?  Tell me truthfully, because I’ll know if you’re lyyyyyy-iiiing!”

Yuuto opened his mouth, but Izumi beat him to the response.  “Go away, unless you wanna unlock this.” She pulled her arm back out while Yuuto choked.  “Fuckin’ useless cat…”

“Hmm?  Unblock it?”  Mononeko asked, putting a paw up to his chin.  "You mean you want to go in here? But it's locked!  We can't just let you try and break through a locked door!"  

"I don't care.  Move.”

"What?  You don't care?  You're so mean and vulgar, Izumi!  You're like a more illiterate version of Dai!  It's enough to make a cat depressed, over here!" 

"Izumi, please don't try and start a fight," Yuuto pleaded before turning back to their Overseer.  "Mononeko -"

" _ Overseer _ Mononeko!"

"Ah, Overseer Mononeko - I apologize for Izumi’s behavior.  We were just - wondering why these doors were locked. Y-yes, that’s… what we were doing…”

"Oh, that's what you wanted to know?  You should have said so to start with!  If you really wanna know, it's because that wing is undergoing renovations.  They should be done right about... now!"

He threw out his paws and - stood there.  Absolutely nothing happened. It was rather anticlimactic, Ren thought.

“Does this mean that we’re allowed to go in?” Yuuto asked.

“I don’t know.   _ Can _ you?”

Izumi shook out her hair.  “This is fuckin’ stupid,” she muttered, and stalked forward.  

“Izumi, wait -!”

The doors opened with little resistance, slamming against the wall from the effort the survivalist had put into her push.  “It’s fine. Can we get goin’, now?”

“Up up up!  No going just yet!”  Mononeko twirled in a circle.  “First we gotta talk about how Izumi was just trying to break through a locked door!”

“A-ah, she wasn’t… trying to do that…”

“Hmm?  Wasn’t she, Mr. Ultimate Tailor?  Would the ample amounts of evidence we have recorded from our hallway security cameras support your statement?”

“Aaaaahhmmmm… That is to say, um…”

“I didn’t break the door,” Izumi said.  “Broke the window.”

“True, true!  But have you considered that, upon very close inspection, the window is indeed part of the door?”

“No it ain’t.”

Izumi’s mildly annoyed, matter-of-fact refusal actually gave Mononeko pause.  In his silence, Ren decided to speak. “Opening locked doors isn’t against the rules.  Stop bothering us.”

Unfortunately, this did not get him to leave faster.  “Didn’t you read the rules? Don’t you know what the first one says?”  Ren literally did not remember. “It says, ‘Students are free to explore the Super-Duper Top-Secret Facility for some Super-Duper Talented Students with minimal restrictions.’  Minimal restrictions can include lots of things! Police tape, physical and emotional barriers, your own unjaded sense of morality… and, of course, locked doors!”  His voice got low.  “That sounds quite a bit like breaking a rule, now doesn’t it?”

“...I didn’t know that…” Fuyuki mumbled.  

“It’s quite ambiguous,” Yuuto agreed.

“This is stupid,” Izumi said.  “You didn’t write that down.”

“...I think,” Fuyuki said, fidgeting under everyone’s stares, “that… Izumi shouldn’t be punished, because… no one knew what you meant.  You should make the rules clearer… because otherwise… we don’t know what to do… and then it’s like you’re doing things for no reason…” He stared down at his feet.  “It’s not fair…”

“An impassioned plea from the Ultimate Geologist!” Mononeko cried.  “I can’t say I agree with you, though… You guys were clearly talking about it earlier, right?  ‘ But won’t our wonderful overseer be mad at us if we try and break the doors open?’ That’s what Shiori said.  I’m a robot, so I have a perfect memory of the event! ...Buuuut, at the same time, Izumi isn’t Shiori. It’s possible she wasn’t thinking about that at all!  Maybe she doesn’t even know what restrictions are!”

“I know what a ‘restrictions’ is,” Izumi snapped.

“And yet you don’t know what ‘unbecoming’ means?  How unbecoming. The state of education in our country is just appalling, I tell you.  You kids sure are lucky you’re going to an actually decent school.” He shook his head.  “Now, where was I… oh, yes!  Unlike my predecessors, I can take constructive criticism.  So! Izumi, you’re off the hook for now, so long as you promise to never ever disregard the intricacies of my list of rules ever again.”

“The... what?”

“...Just say yes…” Fuyuki whispered.

“Yes,” Izumi said, even more bewildered.

“Excellent!  Thank you so much for your cooperation.”

“Ah… does this mean the matter is settled now?” Yuuto asked.

“Hm?  Oh, yeah, it’s totally settled.  It was settled before I even came here.  But, what kind of Overseer would I be if I didn’t give you brats the illusion of control every now and then, huh?”  Mononeko snickered. “Anyway! Now that everything’s over with, I’m going to go back to taking my lovely me time. You kooky kids have fun in there!  Remember: I’ll be watching.”

He turned and began to waddle away.  

Ren rubbed at her eyes, feeling as though she had aged eighty years in ten minutes.  She continued to feel like this as the group, led by an incredibly impatient Izumi and an equally nervous Yuuto, finally entered the unknown section of building they had decided to explore.

**\--JANITOR’S WING--**

Ren had been expecting another room.  Instead, she got another hallway. 

“‘Janitor’s Wing,’” Yuuto read, squinting at the small sign above the opposite side of the door.  “This must be quite a facility, to have a separate wing for the cleaning staff… oh! Watch out for the glass!”

Ren deliberately crunched on the fragments.  Fuyuki, who had already carefully cleared the path and was now a few steps ahead, flinched, the action so violent that it actually made him stumble into the wall.  

Or, no, it wasn’t _just_ a plain stretch of wall.  

“Hm?  What’s this?” Yuuto asked once Fuyuki had been checked over, leaning down to look at the steel trash chute he'd smashed into.  “It has a handle… does that mean you can open it?”

“It’s a trash chute,” Ren said, because she just really wanted to get moving.  

Yuuto blinked, then nodded rapidly.  “Ah, yes yes, of course! I’ve heard of those, but I’ve never seen one in person before.  I had no idea it looked like this. It’s quite - well, fancy, isn’t it?”

“It’s… a trash chute.” Literally what was he seeing.  You put trash in it. It was a metal square. 

“Well, I mean the idea of it.  You just push your trash in and it’s gone.  You don’t have to take care of it yourself or anything!  What would you even see if you were to look inside…?”

“It’s locked,” Izumi snapped, rattling the chains that were wrapped around its handle.  There was a lock attached to the metallic mass, meaning that there was no way for Yuuto to ever open it and find out.  “Come on already.”  She started walking once again.   Yuuto seemed reluctant to part with his newfound passion, but he followed the rest of the group anyway.  

They found the first new room at the end of the hallway, right in the corner where it turned to the right.

**\--LAUNDRY ROOM--**

It was… a laundry room.  Exciting. 

“Oh, thank goodness!” Yuuto said, his feet kicking up dust as he walked towards the machines in the corner.  “I’ve always wanted to use a washing machine, but we’ve never been able to afford one. Now we can keep our clothes clean if we have to be here for more than a few days.  I’d imagine it’d be quite disgusting, wearing the same outfit for a week.” 

It wasn't that bad, Ren thought, who was on day three of the same wrinkled blouse and shorts (it would have been day seven, if her mother hadn't noticed the unchanging sauce stain on her other shirt a few days ago and practically ripped it from her grubby body).  Izumi, who had probably worn the same outfit her entire life, just rolled her eyes. 

By the door, Fuyuki fidgeted.  “...The doors are all closed…” 

“Hm?  Aren’t they supposed to be?”

Fuyuki’s eyes slid from the washing machines to Yuuto to the floor, where they stubbornly remained.  “If you don’t keep them open… they grow mold… cause it’s wet…”

“Do they?  Oh, I suppose that does make sense.”  He bent down, fingers curled on the lid’s handle. “If there is mold, then I guess we could always clean it -”

The mustiest, earthiest smell Ren had ever encountered shot directly into her nose, making her eyes water.  Fuyuki flinched at it's presence; Izumi merely scrunched up her nose and went back to rooting through a box in the corner.

“Alright,” Yuuto said, voice hoarse with mildew, “I’ll add this to the list.”

There wasn’t much to see, after that.  A brief inspection revealed that, while the dryers were fine (although full of lint, which Fuyuki had had to explain the danger of), all of the washing machines were in similar states of grossness.  Izumi’s search of the only other point of interest in the room - a plastic folding table - had yielded only the bare basics of items related to washing clothes. There wasn’t even an iron, which Ren was pretty sure was related to the laundry process somehow.

Whereas even Ren had attempted a cursory glancing over of the room, Fuyuki hadn’t done any searching at all, instead having parked himself at the far right wall.  Although, to be perhaps a little bit fair, the wall was definitely different from the other ones, and she guessed it warranted some investigation. It looked less like the plaster-stone mish-mash the rest of the floor was made of and more like… honestly, Ren wasn’t sure.  Rock? Stone? Wait, weren’t those the exact same thing?

“This is, um… different from the cinderblock the other walls are made out of…” Fuyuki explained when she got closer.  He ran a finger over its unpainted surface. “It sounds a lot more gloopy. It’s… made from igneous rock… and maybe… Um…” He traced a finger down, putting his ear against the cool surface.  “A vein of something that smokes too much…”

That meant nothing to Ren.  “...Okay…”

He curled his finger back, looking as far away from her as possible. “Basically, um… it’s made of natural rock… not the stuff people usually use…”

Okay, that she actually understood, but she still didn’t really see the importance of.  So the wall was different from the other ones. So what? Was this the renovation that Mononeko had been  talking about? If so, it was a shitty one. It was probably what was making the room so cold, because as far as she could remember, rocks weren’t insulated.

At some point, Izumi had decided to join the conversation.  She ran a finger along the wall, and then she leaned in and licked it.  “Reminds me of some of the caves I’ve been in,” she said, like she hadn’t just tounged up a rock.  “Definitely solid rock. Been chipped out.”

“Yes, it’s… um… not in its natural shape…” Fuyuki pressed in closer to it, scratching at it with his fingernail.  “I haven’t studied any formations with this kind of mineral composition, though…” 

Izumi shrugged.  “Don’t look similar to me,” she said, and walked back over to Yuuto.

Shortly after that, they deemed the area fully explored and left the laundry room.  

**\--JANITOR’S WING--**

The only remaining area left to investigate was a stretch of hallway now directly in front of them.  As with the other section, this one was empty, save for a single linens closet and a door at its end.  After a short period of Yuuto looking over the towels, they finally entered it.

**\--JANITOR’S QUARTERS--**

There were beds.  

Six of them, to be exact - three on either wall, each covered barely with a thin sheet and no pillows or blankets to adorn them.  Plus, obviously, the room had a bunch of other furniture and stuff, but Ren focused instead on sitting down on the bed nearest to her.

Mission Status: half-complete.  Now she just needed everyone to leave so she could relax in peace.

Whereas Ren had made a beeline for the bed, Yuuto had gone directly to the battered door in the middle of the room.  “Oh, it’s a bathroom!” he exclaimed upon opening it.  His nose wrinkled. “It’s… certainly something. Oh! There might be medicine in here for you, Ren.”

Ren ignored him in favor of running her hand along the sheets, palm catching dust as it went.  It wasn’t that she was opposed to the idea of taking medicine or anything, so much as she would rather be left alone as she did so.  Now that she was finally sitting, it felt like her bones were weighed down and her head was stuffed full of cotton.  She didn’t really want to interact with anyone more than strictly necessary.  

Yuuto, surprisingly, seemed to understand this, and so was silent when he came over, doing nothing more than worriedly noting the blank look she gave him and the way she reached up to press her hand against her eyes.  “Here,” he said, almost touching her shoulders but ultimately keeping his hands to himself. “You sit here and I’ll go check the bathroom for medicine.”

He dawdled a second, obviously waiting for the affirmation that she wouldn’t give him (like hell she was gonna nod or say something like “okay”), and then scurried off to to bathroom.  

As Ren sat on the bed, she watched Izumi and Fuyuki search.  It had been only seconds, but Izumi had already decimated the dresser in the corner.  Fuyuki was carefully picking through a side table, jerking his head up every time Izumi moved too fast or decided to throw yet another useless item behind her.  Sometimes she’d throw them with enough careless force that they’d smash into pieces on the wall behind her.

Smash.  Tick.  Smash.  Tick.  Smash, smash, smash, tick.

The ticking sound was coming from a clock that hung in the middle of the room.  It was a pretty shitty clock, actually, because there was only a face on one of its sides.  Only three of the people sleeping here would be able to tell the time.

Tick…

Tick…

Tick…

Tick…

Tock.  The sound of the minute hand falling another centimeter downwards.  It was one of those clocks that jerked instead of slid.

What was taking Yuuto so long?  Had he drowned or something? Slipped and died?  The dropping of the minute hand made four minutes turn to five and still she was sitting here, waiting.  She was tempted just to lay down, but what if he got back right as she got comfortable? That would be the worst.  

...Maybe she should just go check up on him.

**\--PERSONAL BATHROOM--**

The bathroom was a small, cramped place, with cracked ceramic flooring and wallpaper peeling under the weight of a thick yellow mold.  There was a single shower on the one side which Ren didn’t particularly care about and a toilet that made her physically uncomfortable to stare at for more than a moment.   

Looking at the sink revealed just why Yuuto had been taking so long.  Both the mirror cabinet above the faucet and the more traditional one beneath it had been open and gutted, and now pill bottles and unsealed boxes of tablets were balanced along the sink’s edge and scattered on the floor.  He was holding up what looked to be a bottle of cough syrup to the string of lightbulbs above the sink, squinting at the text on the back, but looked over when she accidentally banged the door against the wall.

He tsked.  “Ren, what are you doing up?  I told you to stay on the bed.”

Ren didn’t even bother to give that a response.  Instead, she leaned forward and picked up the nearest box - some kind of anti-allergen, she knew from the pictures on the front - and flipped it over, but trying to read any of its warnings only made her pulse beat harder in her head.  

“Ah, that’s anti-allergy medication,” he pointlessly explained before frowning at the mess of medicine bottles.  “I’ve been looking, but there doesn’t seem to be any kind of medicine for headaches, and anything that might work is already expired by a few months.  I’ll have to ask Shiori if she thinks there’s anything else we could give you.”

“I don’t have a headache.”  

“The way your squinting and swaying seems to indicate otherwise, don’t you think?”

Ren immediately stilled her movement - or, no, actually, she didn’t do that, because she hadn’t been moving at all.  She wished there actually had been aspirin in the cabinet, if only so she could tell Yuuto where he could shove it. “It’s bright in here.”

“Are you sure?  I thought it was rather dim… two of the vanity lights aren’t even on.”  He bit his lip, glance darting between her and the messy sink. “Honestly, I’m worried it might be something a lot more serious, but I don’t understand enough to diagnose you.  For now, though, how about we get you some water and sit you back down? It’s possible that you’re just dehydrated.”

He turned on the water in the sink.  A thick, brown sludge oozed from the faucet.  

“It gets better if it runs for a while,” Ren said to his horrified expression.  The water in the girl’s room had felt a bit crisper after her space-out session, at least.

“R-right.”  He fidgeted before facing her fully, nervous grin fixed firmly in place.  “Well! Let’s get you back in bed, at least! Ah, if you would go first…”

Oh, right.  She was blocking the doorway.    

**\--JANITOR’S QUARTERS--**

Ren had been in there for two minutes, maximum, but apparently that had been enough for  _ something _ to happen.   

Fuyuki was flattened against the wall, watching with wide eyes as the door to the hallway slowly closed.  The area by the dresser was left an abandoned mess; Izumi was nowhere to be found. “What happened?” Yuuto asked, rushing over.  “Where’s Izumi?”

“She, um…”  Now that his panicked look was fading, Fuyuki looked… vaguely annoyed?  It was an odd look on him. “She said she… heard something… and then sprinted outside…”  

Yuuto frowned.  “She heard something?  Whatever did she hear?”

“I don’t know… She didn’t say…” 

“It was probably just one of the students,” Ren said.

“...Or Mononeko…”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Yuuto huffed.  “It was probably… nothing… and Izumi was just being paranoid.”

There was an uncomfortable pause.

“I’m just… going to go find her,” he said with wobbly conviction.  “Only because she might be getting into trouble. Ah, but first - Ren!”  The guy could be fast when he wanted to. First he was turning around and suddenly she was being pushed onto the nearest bed.  “You go get some rest. I’ll be right back.”

Ren watched him as he scurried out the door.  She didn’t bother to say goodbye.

That left her and Fuyuki alone in the room.  He went back to his quiet sorting, and, well, like hell Ren was gonna do actual work, especially after Yuuto had just granted her a free ticket out of doing anything.  She laid down on the bed, spent a futile minute trying to get comfortable, and promptly passed out.

**\--ooo--**

Ren slept for seven.  Fucking.  Hours. 

Or, just about that much, she discovered upon Yuuto finally shaking her awake.  The room was empty, save for the two of them; shortly after Ren had gone to sleep, he explained, everyone had gone off to do other things.  Yuuto hadn’t kept an eye on the others, instead having mostly spent the hours cleaning out the Janitor’s Wing - stuff like scrubbing down the floors, taking care of the mold problem (both in the bathroom and in the washers), and using the newly cleaned machines to wash all the musty linens and bedsheets.  This, presumably, included her own.  Ren decided not to ask how he had managed that. “I consulted Shiori,” Yuuto continued now that she'd been fully updated, “and she said that if you still have a headache, you should take this.” He held out a glass of something faintly purple. “It’s mostly just water, but she put some type of herbal extract in there that’s supposed to help with, ah, blood flow, I think?  And some ground lavender, for color ‘and fun’.” 

It was in that moment that Ren became aware of how her lips stuck to her teeth and the horrible way her tongue scratched against the roof of her mouth.  She snatched the glass from his hands. “Oh, ah, you’re supposed to sip it, not - and you already drank it. Wonderful.”  He tsked.  “Shiori wants to check in on you sometime tomorrow, even if you think you’re feeling better, so please do that.”

As Ren got off the bed, Yuuto explained the main reason he had woken her up: everyone was finally done with their investigations and were meeting up in the lobby to share what they had found.  He hadn’t seen most of what everyone else had been doing, being as he had spent his time trying to clean up their section, but from what he had witnessed, it seemed like everyone else had actually made some process.  

Ren hadn’t been expecting such a hopeful report.  Whatever. It wasn’t like anyone would have actually found anything.

**\--LOBBY--**

The front door group had actually found something.  Ren would have been shocked if she had actually felt invested in the investigation’s conclusion.

“Welcome, welcome!” Minta began, eyes narrowed as she grasped a fistful of cape and brought it up against her face.  “We have made quite the discovery here! Minta is sure the rest of the students will be quite impressed with her group.”

Gina tapped her cane against the ground, as though to call attention to herself.  “Yeah, it turns out that there’s a -”

“We had been searching for hours,” Minta interrupted, flinging her cape out behind her as she began to pace.  “Although we had done all we could, there was no fruit borne. We had all but given up the thought of escape as we lay slumped upon the floor, cheeks glistening with tears of frustration, anger, sorrow, regrets.  But beautiful Minta, with her azure orbs still sharp from years of picking apart manuscripts, made an observation that none of her group members had yet to make: some of the paint upon the front wall was a slightly darker shade than all the rest!”

“Well,” Ikki interjected, “Landon was kinda the one that came and pointed it out to us, since he -”

“And then!  It was upon making this discovery ALL BY HERSELF that, with a group of hard workers, the lovely Minta was able to uncover what the nasty overseer had tried so hard to hide.”  With that, she turned, cape twisting dramatically, and flung her arms at the aforementioned discovery. “A card reader! The answer to our desperate prayers! You may all thank Minta now.”

The card reader Minta referred to was a small device to the left of the front door, embedded deep into a vaguely square-shaped section of wall.  It looked like your typical ID card scanner, minus a few extra buttons. From Minta’s story and the tools that were scattered about, it seems as though they had had to actually chip away at the wall in order to get to it.

No one thanked her, although Akira did give a single, hesitant clap.  “Ah, so is that how the door opens?” Yuuto asked.

“We think so,” Ikki said.  “I’m not sure what some of the buttons do, but it’s definitely got a card swiper on it.  You prolly need the proper ID to operate it, yeah?”

“Obviously, it’s important if Mononeko went through all that effort to hide it,” Gina added.

Eito brought a nail to his lower lip.  “He didn’t try to stop you while you were excavating it?”

“If he had, I woulda had him in pieces all over the floor right now,” Dai threatened.

Ikki frowned.  “Now thatcha mention it, s’kind of weird.  Did the cat bother you guys about anythin'?”

He was addressing the stairwell group.  Landon shook his head. “I was in there the whole time and he never once showed up.”

“I see,” Eito muttered, biting down.

With the group unable to parse a meaning out of it, the conversation dwindled, and they finally decided to move on.

The next stop was the stairwell, whose appearance had changed significantly since Ren had seen it last.  It looked like someone had gone at the walls with a dull knife, from how much the wallpaper had been scratched at - and, according to the four, they actually had.  Hours of careful scraping had led to the discovery of a new patch of plaster; from there, Suzume, who claimed to have had experience in such things, had excavated what looked to be a scanner or card reader with a set of buttons on top, similar to what was in the lobby.  “Like the one in the lobby, I suspect you’d need a keycard or something along those lines to operate it,” Landon speculated. “Pressing the buttons didn’t seem to do anything.”

Next up had been Tatsuo’s group, who apparently hadn’t found anything of use.  Instead, they had spent most of the time cataloging and organizing the kitchen pantry and contents of the storage room.  

One thing was weird, though.  

“Why was this shelf left empty?” Landon asked.  It was a reasonable question, considering that the shelf in question was the only empty shelf in a room where the rest were drowning in boxes and other knick-knacks.  It was right in the middle, too, so it wasn’t as though they could have forgotten about it in their organizing. 

Suddenly, Tatsuo was there, leaning on Landon’s shoulder.  “Well, if you’re just that outstandingly curious, then allow the great Tatsuo Kitano to demonstrate.  If you would lend me your hand…” Without waiting, he reached down and grabbed him by the wrist. “Now, prepare to be amazed… by this shelf’s complete inability to stay upright!”

Using Landon’s hand, he pushed against the shelf.  It was as though it didn’t weigh anything at all; after a half-second of teetering, it pitched backwards.  The only thing that stopped its fall was Izumi, who leapt forward right as it touched the shelf behind it and swung it back to standing.  “See?” Tatsuo continued, placing his hands on one of the shelves. He stared at it intensely for a second before turning back around to the group.  “Unless you’re reeeeaaally careful, you can’t put anything on it.” 

“Why is it like that?” Shiori asked.  “Certainly it had items on it before…?”

Eito shrugged.  “When we got here, it and some of the other ones were lying on top of each other.”  He crouched down. “Whenever it fell over, the frame must have gotten messed up. You can see that even the legs are bent.”

Huh.  Ren hadn’t noticed, but looking more closely, she had to admit that it did look a bit battered.  In the crowd behind her, she could hear Akira start to giggle nervously. “Eh heh… that might’ve been our fault, huh, Izumi?”

“Tch.  Not our fault the shelf was shitty.”

“Well,” Yuuto said, “ah, it’s good to know we can’t put anything on it, then.  Is there anything else you guys found…?”

Apparently, no, but Amelie gave a long-winded, probably purposefully boring description of all the items in the storage room.  Ren didn’t pay attention for most of it.

Of course, the last place to visit was the wing that her group had explored.  The laundry room received mostly positive reactions - Minta in particular was happy at the idea of finally washing out her boots, and a rather dusty looking Landon agreed - and then everyone was entering the final door.

Tatsuo was the first to react.  By the time Akira’s exclamation of “Beds!” had finished, he was already halfway across the room and leaping forward, landing with his arms crossed above his head upon the back left mattress.  “Well, I found where I’m staying for the night! The rest of you losers can murder each other over the other beds. I’ve already found the indisputable, 100% most comfy one.”

“Aw, what?” Suzume cried.  “That’s not fair!”

“But whatever can you do?” Amelie asked.  “He’s already taken the bed. Why, that means it must be his.”

“Ah… this room doesn’t just have beds in it!” Yuuto called out.  “Through that one door there, it also has a shower -”

“A shower,” Minta crooned.

“ - ah, yes, a shower, I just finished cleaning it, and - oh, yes, it also has a medicine cabinet with a few different kinds of medicine in it.”

“What kinds?” Dai asked right as Yuuto finished speaking.

“Oh, um… The usual kinds, I suppose?  I don’t quite remember any, except that there was nothing for headaches.”

“If you need something, Dai, I can always help you,” Shiori reassured.  “I have quite a few herbal remedies with me.”

Dai scratched at his arm.  “Yeah, sure, whatever.” 

It was in the brief silence after this that the students were reminded that the intercom system existed. A jingle blasted through the room - far too upbeat for the situation they were in- followed by the grating voice of their self-proclaimed Overseer.

“Goooooood evening, everyone!  The time is now 10:00 pm. As such, it is officially nighttime.  Soon the doors to the dining hall and kitchen will be locked, and entry after that point is strictly prohibited.  Okay then… sweet dreams, everyone! Good night, sleep tight, and don’t let the bed bugs bite!”

With a sharp burst of static, the transmission cut off.

“Locked?” Shiori asked. “There was nothing like that mentioned in the rules...”

“Well, you heard Mononeko!” Tatsuo flopped onto his stomach.  “I’m gonna sleep here tonight. See you guys in the morning!”

Of course, not everyone was as content as Tatsuo, who had begun pretending to snore.  “Minta has to sleep here?” Minta whispered. “Minta has to sleep here, in the most filthy place that she has ever set foot in?   _ No!! _ Minta  _ refuses _ !”

“I mean… I guess you don’t have to sleep,” Eito said.  “You could just stay awake for the next few weeks. I think you would probably get tired after a while.”

“ _ No no no!!! _ ”

“I’m not happy about it either, yeah?” Ikki, who was leaning heavily against the wall, admitted.  “I’m pretty sure most of us don’t wanna be here, but that don’t mean we’re gonna refuse to sleep or nothin'.”

“Minta is not like the rest of you - you trashy, impoverished bugs.  She understands what it is like to have a decent standard of living. This room is making Minta’s skin crawl.”

“That’s, uh…  that’s really rude, actually.  Just cause I’m not as well-off as you don’t mean I live in a garbage heap.”

“Woah!” Suzume said, hand slapping against her forehead loud enough to echo.  “I just realized - there’s only six beds!”

“Once again, Suzume, your ability to observe moves me,” Amelie said.

“You, ah… You just now noticin’ that?” Ikki asked.

“Thank you.  Yes, I am! Because… if there’s only six beds, that means there’s not enough for everyone.  Unless…” Her voice dropped down to a whisper. “...Two people were to share one…”

Having slept on one for a few hours, Ren could confirm that the beds were barely big enough for one person.  What, were they gotta start stacking people on top of each other to make them fit? That’d just be dumb. 

“That sounds like it’d be a little uncomfortable, eh heh…” Akira said.

“She does have a point,” Landon admitted.  “There’s only enough beds for six people, which means ten of us will have to sleep elsewhere.”

“I don’t care about having a bed,” Gina said immediately.  “I prefer sleeping on the floor.”

“Nyeh,” Akira began, striking a pose, “if other people need them, then I don’t need one either!  (ง •̀ω•́)ง”

“That’s two people.  Now we just need to decide on everyone else...”

Oh, Ren thought.  This was going to be a disaster.

**\--ooo--**

The time was now 10:45.  The sleeping arrangements were decided.  Ren had never loathed a group of people more in her entire life.

The discussion had actually gone decently well at first.  Tatsuo, who was still faking his snoring, got a bed, as had the people Yuuto had deemed the sickest - Ikki, Dai, Ren herself, and Shiori.  Of course, Landon got the final bed because he had to be near Shiori, which meant everyone else was just going to have to sleep elsewhere.

Mina had not liked this idea.

“Why does Landon get to sleep somewhere comfortable when he clearly does not need to?” she demanded.  

“They’re not  _ that _ comfortable…” Ren muttered.   

“It would be better for my mind and Shiori’s health if I were to sleep near her at night,” Landon argued.  “I’d immediately be able to help her if she needed it in the middle of the night, and I’d know what to do if something bad happened.”

Minta’s mouth had become an embarrassed, squiggly line.  “W-well, then what about Tatsuo, hmm? Surely he does not need one?”

In the three seconds since Ren had glanced over, Tatsuo had unwrapped a few loops of his scarf string and tied himself to the bed.  He winked and wiggled his fingers. 

“You will get off of there right this instant!” Minta screeched, stomping over.

Of course, Minta had been unable to untie Tatsuo from the bed, although not for lack of trying.  Neither had Izumi, who had almost dislocated Tatsuo’s wrist before Yuuto stopped her, nor even Dai, who claimed to have experience with knot tying but was stumped by the monstrosity before him.  “The hell is this?” he demanded. “It looks like the aborted love child of a constrictor knot and a double crown.”

“It’s secret Kitano magic!  You wouldn’t understand, Hirano.”

“Maybe I would if you took your crusty dick outta your mouth and stopped sucking it for two seconds -”

As no one could remove Tatsuo, he had was given the final bed.  Her own sleeping space secured, Ren hadn’t paid much attention to the rest of the discussion, but the general gist she got was that the other students would be mostly concentrated in the lobby area.  That made sense - it had a couch, and at least you were sleeping on shitty carpet instead of shitty floor.

This brought them to 10:45, and it was at this point that the group decided to turn in for the day.  Still recovering from the effects of drugs and having spent the past few hours in a constant state of stress, everyone seemed at least a little tired - even Ren, who had already slept for so long and never went to bed before midnight.  The rest of the group said their goodbyes to the six and departed - well, almost everyone. Minta had pounced upon the shower and declared she wasn’t leaving until ‘ _ the filth of this place could be washed from her skin’ _ or something melodramatic like that.

The bathroom did not have a lock, Ren discovered when Dai somehow dragged himself in there in the middle of Minta’s shower.  It was exactly five seconds before Minta let out a shrill shriek, the door slammed open, and Dai was literally kicked out, pill bottles rolling from his arms as he lay, facedown, upon the floor.

He lay there for quite some time.

By eleven thirty, Minta had left and the remaining six people had all gotten properly situated.  As turning off the lights left the room pitch black, Landon had decided to keep the bathroom lights on but leave the door closed, such that only the smallest amount of light seeped out from beneath it.  By twelve, the room had gone quiet, save for Ikki’s snoring (which, god damn, she hadn’t expected something so deep from a guy with a voice as reedy as his) and Dai’s occasional back-and-forth thrashing.  

Ren couldn’t sleep.  She lay awake on sheets that slowly faded in freshness, listening to the hours pass beneath the darkness of her grainy eyelids.  The steady sound reminded her of sometime years ago, when her brother had snuck out to their neighbor's yard sale and come back with, amongst the other things he was no longer permitted to have, an old-fashioned alarm clock.  “It’s part of the charm,” he’d claimed when Ren asked him if it was supposed to shake each time it ticked. He had always been enamored with old stuff like that.

Well, anyway.  That same night, Ren’ room - then half a mess of salty bags and plates crusted with leftovers - had gotten the ant infestation her mother had always warned her about.  After the call to pest control and the scolding Ren didn’t listen to, she’d been sent to sleep in her brother’s room, and because she was older and much better at video games, she had gotten the bed while Michi had gotten the floor.  She remembered those moments after the lights had shut off, laying above her brother while he shifted on old blankets, complaining about back pain and her supposed cheating, and between those soft mutters had come the jerky step of clock hands marching their slow descent to morning. 

She imagined herself then, the pillows and blanket thrown off because of how badly they itched, listening to the exact reason why she would find the clock wedged into the trash can three nights later.  If she kept her eyes scrunched tight enough then maybe she would wake up there, pestered by Michi on his dumb Pokemon sheets instead of shivering in a room of people she didn’t want to know.

Tick…

Tick…

Tick…

Tick…

T i c k . . .

**\--ooo--**

Mononeko's Dream Journal

2/16/XX

_ Last night I dreamed that I had a tea party with my younger self, but every time I tried to take a sip out of one of the cups, it would melt before I could drink anything.  She kept giving me new ones, but I eventually became so frustrated that I went to strangle her. Like the teacups, she melted at the first touch, and I watched quietly as she washed away in the river we had been sitting beside. _

_ The moral of the story is to never drink tea with a stranger.  _

**\--ooo--**

**PART ZERO: THE KIDNAPPED CLASS OF HOPE’S PEAK ACADEMY**

**\--END--**

**_Sixteen students remain._ **

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> me cutting out parts of this chapter/summarizing others cause i just didn’t want to write that much anymore: self care
> 
> Also me, promptly adding in tons of unnecessary dialogue because i want my characters to be idiots: s-self… s-self *sob* c-c-care… 
> 
> The next two chapters are gonna be one that’s very short and one that should, hopefully, be of a decent length. As such, I'm gonna try and post them both within a day of each other. Expect to see them in... oh, what the hell. One to two weeks. Ideally a week and a half. I’ll just burn off my fingers typing. 
> 
> Next time: Report cards for the 88th class, plus a sketchy map of the school.


	7. Intermission 0.1 - Report Cards

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some report cards for the 88th class of Hope's Peak Academy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so, uh... i was gonna add in pictures, but then i lost my tablet pen and couldn't finish drawing them. I was then like, 'okay, i'll put in what pictures i do have and then just draw pencil sketches of the rest,' but the more i looked at the pictures i had drawn the more i hated them, and long story short, now there's no pictures. if you really wanna look at everything i drew, you can find it here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/165627343@N02/albums/72157700271827211
> 
> once part one is finished, i think i'll probably go back in and draw different report card photos.

******REPORT CARDS FOR THE 88 **TH** **CLASS OF HOPE’S PEAK ACADEMY****

**NAME:** AKIRA AIDA

 **TALENT:** ULTIMATE COSPLAYER

 **HEIGHT:** 5’3

 **BLOOD TYPE:** O-

 **DATE OF BIRTH:** May 14

 **LIKES:** Stuffed animals

 **DISLIKES** : Mean people

 **ABILITY:** MEOW-RAL SUPPORT

(triples the amount of influence gained from correct answers if the bar drops to below ¼ its size)

****-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-** **

**NAME:** SUZUME OGAWA

 **TALENT:** ULTIMATE PYROTECHNICIAN

 **HEIGHT:** 5’4

 **BLOOD TYPE:** A+

 **DATE OF BIRTH:** April 9

 **LIKES:** Romance movies, jingly bracelets

 **DISLIKES:** Hiking

 **ABILITY:** EXPLOSIVES EXPERT

   (Destroying a block group in Mind Mine also destroys all blocks touching it)

**-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-**

**NAME:** TATSUO KITANO

 **TALENT:** ULTIMATE STREET MAGICIAN

 **HEIGHT:** 6’4

 **BLOOD TYPE:** B-

 **DATE OF BIRTH:** August 13

 **LIKES:** Bunnies

 **DISLIKES:** Practical jokes

 **ABILITY:** PICK-A-POCKET

   (increases the amount of monocoins earned per trial stage)

****-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-** **

**NAME:** SAYAKA KAKUHEN

 **TALENT:** ULTIMATE CONSPIRACY THEORIST

 **HEIGHT:** 5’7

 **BLOOD TYPE:** B-

 **DATE OF BIRTH:** October 31

 **LIKES:** Isekai manga

 **DISLIKES:** Public speaking

 **ABILITY:** THE PROOF IS OUT THERE

   (unlocks all panels during Climax Reasoning)

****-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-** **

**NAME:** EITO HIROMI

 **TALENT:** ULTIMATE COMPETITIVE EATER

 **HEIGHT:** 5’4

 **BLOOD TYPE:** O+

 **DATE OF BIRTH:** June 10

 **LIKES:** Food (all), cowboys

 **DISLIKES:** Cleaning

 **ABILITY:** IRON STOMACH

(The amount of truth bullets to pick from slowly decreases over time)

****-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-** **

**NAME:** MINTA SHIMON

 **TALENT:** ULTIMATE LITERARY CRITIC

 **HEIGHT:** 6’3

 **BLOOD TYPE:** B+

 **DATE OF BIRTH:** January 17

 **LIKES:** Travelling

 **DISLIKES:** Musicals

 **ABILITY:** CRITICAL EYE

   (lets you immediately lock-on to a V-spot)

****-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-** **

**NAME:** YUUTO FUKASE

 **TALENT:** ULTIMATE TAILOR

 **HEIGHT:** 5’5

 **BLOOD TYPE:** A+

 **DATE OF BIRTH:** February 29

 **LIKES:** Cooking

 **DISLIKES:** Math, gardening

 **ABILITY:** MATERNAL PRESENCE

   (stops people from yelling during Mass Panic Debates)

****-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-** **

**NAME:** REN YUSUKE

 **TALENT:** ULTIMATE CALLIGRAPHER

 **HEIGHT:** 5’3

 **BLOOD TYPE:** AB-

 **DATE OF BIRTH:** February 15

 **LIKES:** Olives

 **DISLIKES:** Fancy clothes, fancy banquets

 **ABILITY:** APATHY-INDUCED PSYCHOSIS

   (adds the “rewind” function to trials.  Costing concentration, the user may now “rewind” the debate and select statements that have already been said.)

****-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-** **

**NAME:** LANDON YBARRA

 **TALENT:** ULTIMATE LINGUIST

 **HEIGHT:** 5’6

 **BLOOD TYPE:** A+

 **DATE OF BIRTH:** December 5

 **LIKES:** Photography

 **DISLIKES:** Childish things

 **ABILITY:** GENGO GAKUSHA

   (makes Hangman’s Gambit easier)

**-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-**

**NAME:** SHIORI KOTOBUKI

 **TALENT:** ULTIMATE HERBALIST

 **HEIGHT:** 5’6

 **BLOOD TYPE:** A+

 **DATE OF BIRTH:** December 5

 **LIKES:** Lavender tea

 **DISLIKES:** Elevators

 **ABILITY:** HERBAL DETOX

   (automatically indicates the suspect when you have to select them)

**-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-**

**NAME:** IKKI SHIBUYA

 **TALENT:** ULTIMATE RADIO HOST

 **HEIGHT:** 6’1

 **BLOOD TYPE:** AB+

 **DATE OF BIRTH:** September 26

 **LIKES:** Jazz music

 **DISLIKES:** The beach

 **ABILITY:** GOLDEN VOICE

   (destroying one piece of white noise will destroy all those on screen)

**-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-**

**NAME:** GINA SAKANE

 **TALENT:** ULTIMATE SPOKEN WORD POET

 **HEIGHT:** 4’9

 **BLOOD TYPE:** B-

 **DATE OF BIRTH:** April 4

 **LIKES:** Social activism

 **DISLIKES:** High-up places

 **ABILITY:** DISCERNING LISTENER

   (highlights the main topics during Scrum Debate)

**-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-**

**NAME:** FUYUKI FUKUMITSU

 **TALENT:** ULTIMATE GEOLOGIST

 **HEIGHT:** 5’1

 **BLOOD TYPE:** A-

 **DATE OF BIRTH:** March 1

 **LIKES:** Rocks

 **DISLIKES:** Small spaces, yelling

 **ABILITY:**  HARD LIKE A ROCK

   (decreases influence lost when taking damage in Rebuttal Showdown)

**-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-**

**NAME:** IZUMI KIDO

 **TALENT:** ULTIMATE SURVIVALIST

 **HEIGHT:** 5’11

 **BLOOD TYPE:** A-

 **DATE OF BIRTH:** November 22

 **LIKES:** Hunting knives

 **DISLIKES:** Public education

 **ABILITY:** WELL-EQUIPPED

   (increases damage done by swords during Rebuttal Showdown)

**-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-**

**NAME:** DAI HIRANO

 **TALENT:** ULTIMATE SNOWBOARDER

 **HEIGHT:** 5’5

 **BLOOD TYPE:** O-

 **DATE OF BIRTH:** August 23

 **LIKES:** Huskies, spicy food

 **DISLIKES:** Itchy sweaters

 **ABILITY:** OLYMPIAD

   (makes Logic Drive easier)

**-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-**

**NAME:** AMELIE PEDROZO

 **TALENT:** ULTIMATE RC HELICOPTER PILOT

 **HEIGHT:** 5’9

 **BLOOD TYPE:** O+

 **DATE OF BIRTH:** July 18

 **LIKES:** Penguins

 **DISLIKES:** Raw meat

 **ABILITY:** HALF-TRUTHS

   (indicates any instance where you can lie to progress)

 

**\--ooo--**

**FLOOR 01 MAP**

****

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Eito’s ability is called “Iron Stomach” because it’s implied that he’s, uh, eating the bullets. 
> 
> The next chapter will be up by monday or sooner. It's technically complete, but the beginning needs some editing work.


	8. A Lazy Kind of Morning

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ren eats toast and gets checked out by a medical professional.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm really glad I waited a day to post this, since the first section of it is SO MUCH better now, trust me.  
> Anyway, this chapter was a mess to write (so much stuff got cut out/rewritten), but I'm pretty happy with it, even if not too much happens in it. Sorry for the wait!
> 
> I wanted to draw a cool title card, but my pen's missing, so... yeah ;_;
> 
> I think I have a pretty good idea of the free time events for this chapter, but if at any point you wanna suggest people, I'm always open to it! It'll also be good for figuring out future chapters.

**PART ONE: TEA PARTY FOR THE HOPEFUL DEAD**

**\--START--**

_ \--DAILY LIFE-- _

**\--ooo--**

This is what Ren hoped would happen when she finally woke up in the morning:

Her brother would wake her up at eight, because even though she wasn’t attending school at the moment, her parents still wanted her up when Michi had to get up.  Now, eight o’clock was the absolute latest time Michi could leave the house and not be late for school, so recently he would bang open the door and then do one of two things.  

One: if their mother was late in leaving for work, he would throw her blankets off of her and yank up the blinds.

Two: if their mother had left an hour earlier with their father, he would stand in the doorway and start screaming his head off.  

Either way, Ren would open her eyes to some familiar annoyance and, if Michi’s voice was ear-splitting enough, almost twist her ankle trying to get out bed to punch him.  By the time he’d have shouted ‘see you later’ at her and the door would have slammed downstairs, she would be at least half awake and too disoriented to get back in bed. 

This is what actually happened: 

Ren faded into consciousness a little after four and remained lying down, her left arm growing numb beneath her heavy head.  Instead of screaming or the shuddering of window blinds, she was greeted with the sound of breathing - Shiori’s labored sighs and Landon’s even ones, Ikki’s snoring and Dai’s muttering, the almost silent whistling of Tatsuo all curled up in the back of the room.  It was… obnoxious, really. She’d never slept around this many people before, and despite her exhaustion, the noise annoyed her just enough that she couldn’t get back to sleep.

It was getting close to seven o’clock that, finally giving up on any more rest, Ren pushed herself out of bed.  It was odd, waking up in a room just as dark as she’d fallen asleep in. Without any windows or light coming in from the hallway, her perception of the morning felt muted; were it not for the clock whose numbers she could just make out in the fuzzy darkness, it would have felt like she was still stuck in the previous night.

Her movement hadn’t woken anyone else up.  She left the room unaccosted.

Silent mornings had become normal for Ren, so the stillness of the hallways didn’t bother her as much as it might have a few months ago.  Her first stop was the girl’s bathroom, mostly because she had gotten desperate (she couldn’t even remember the last time she had gone), but instead of the ungodly sight of yesterday, the doors opened to the smell of bleach and fake flowers.  Gone was the mold from the corners and the crust from toilet seats and even the black grime from the now white grout. All that remained was the slickness of the tiles, but this time, it was from whatever cleaner somebody had recently used to wash the floors.

Of course, the water still wasn’t great, Ren learned as she went to wash her hands, but it wasn’t like she had cared about that anyway.  

As she dried her hands, she realized that there was water running in the bathroom next to her.  It must have been someone who had slept outside the janitor’s quarters, she realized. She left as quickly as possible, so as not to intercept them on the way out.  

**\--THE KITCHEN--**

Upon exiting the bathroom, Ren’s goal had been to get to the kitchen.  The path through the dining hall was locked as Mononeko had said it would be, but the key to the storage room was still hung up in the closet, so she got in through that way just fine.  It was the only way anyone could get in at night, Ren learned as she tried to test the key on the kitchen doors that lead into the cafeteria. There wasn’t even a keyhole to put it in. What, did they lock automatically or something?

Whatever.  What was important was that she had found a way in, and nor she was standing in the middle of an overly bright kitchen, flicking through the cabinets in an increasingly depressing attempt to find something for herself to eat.  

Soup?  Gross. Noodles?  Not when there wasn’t a microwave around.  Rice? That required more concentration than she was willing to give at seven in the morning.  Plus, she’d probably have to search around the storage room for a rice cooker.

She had just settled on a loaf of plain bread when the speakers crackled to life.

_ Ding, dong, bing, bong! _

“Goooood morning, everyone!” shouted Mononeko from over the kitchen loudspeakers.  “The time is now seven A.M., and nighttime is officially over! It’s time to rise and shine!  Get ready to greet another beee-yutiful day!”

The end of the announcement was accompanied by a grinding, clicking noise - not something that came from over the now-silent speakers, Ren realized, but the doors leading out into the cafeteria.  They’d been locked when she had first come into the room. Putting the bread onto the counter, she went over and examined them.

**\--CAFETERIA--**

Welp.  They opened, now.  

The cafeteria and kitchen and kitchen were both far cleaner than the rest of the floor, but they still needed a good cleaning, Ren thought as she trailed her fingers along tables dulled by dust.  Whoever had cleaned the bathrooms obviously hadn’t gotten to here yet, which Ren supposed made sense, being as the doors had been locked all night. It would have been more alarming if it had been clean.

Like the ones on the opposite side of the dining hall, he doors leading out into the hallway were now unlocked.  She peeked out into the hallway, squinting from the lit panel directly above her, and then quickly turned back around.  God, would it have killed the people who made this place to have put in a single window? It had been less than a day, and Ren was already sick of artificial lights.

**\--KITCHEN--**

“Or something like  - Who’s there?”

She looked like she had just gotten out of bed, with her hair like a haystack and shirt strap almost falling off her left shoulder and slippers that made a schup-schup noise as she turned around.  When Ren didn’t immediately respond, Gina, who must have come into the kitchen while Ren was checking out the dining hall, narrowed her eyes. “I’m not deaf, you know. I heard the door.”

“It’s Ren.”

“Oh.”  Gina shoved something in her pocket, but the tables in the middle of the room prevented Ren from seeing what it was.  “W-well, what are you doing up so early, huh?”

It wasn’t  _ that _ early.  Well, maybe for Ren, it was, but she at least knew that her understanding of morning hours were later than the general perception.  “I’m getting food. ...This is the kitchen.” 

“What, you think I don’t know that this is the kitchen?  I already knew that.” As though to reassure herself of this, Gina reached out and felt the edge of the stove where she was standing.  Now would normally be the time where Ren would ask what Gina was doing up, or Gina would provide her own explanation unprompted, but neither event occured.  “Whatever,” Gina continued. “This is where I wanted to be, anyway. I wanted food too. I was just looking for the fridge.”

“It’s to your…” Hm, Gina was kind of facing her right now.  “...left.”

“Gee, thanks.”

Ren had been planning on getting stuff from the fridge anyway, so she ambled over to it and opened it.  “I wanna cook something, but I don’t know what’s around,” Gina admitted as she settled herself in besides her.  “What are you getting?”

“You’re going to cook?”

Ohhh that had been the  _ wrong thing  _ to say, Ren realized as Gina tightened her grip against her makeshift cane.  “Um, yeah? What, just because I’m blind, you think I can’t cook?” Well, maybe, Ren thought, since you kind of needed to see to do anything, but she definitely wasn’t going to say that with how worked up Gina was getting.  “I make food for my sister all the time and it turns out fine. I bet that I can cook way better than you, anyway.”

“Okay,” Ren said.

“Ugh, just - get out of the way.”

Gina looked with her hands, Ren discovered after she’d been swatted away from the fridge.  She was more careful about it than Ren thought she’d be, picking up egg cartons with an almost delicate touch, tapping against different containers and running her fingers lightly along the glass bottles in the door. 

“Can you tell me what this is?”

It was a bottle of something dark and viscous, its label written with characters of the roman alphabet.  Ren shrugged, remembered Gina couldn’t see her, and said, “I don’t know.”

“Well, what’s written on it?”  

“Uh…” Ren crouched closer.  “The pans-cement day fantasy pour less salads...”

“What?”

“It’s foreign.”

“Okay, well - what about this one?”

She was pointing at a different container.  “It’s also foreign,” Ren said.

“This is stupid.  I give up.” After some fumbling, Gina shoved the bottle back into the fridge and slammed it closed.  “What were you going to have, anyway?”

“Toast.”  It was the only thing she knew how to make.

“Toast is easy.  I can make that if you tell me where everything is.”

**\--CAFETERIA--**

Fifteen minutes later saw the two of them in the cafeteria, Ren nibbling on crisped edges while Gina smeared hers with strawberry preserves.  It was a little black, but Ren preferred it like that, so she wasn’t complaining. Gina seemed rather upset, though, if the vicious way she bit into her toast was anything to go by.    

The morning announcement seemed to have woken the rest of the group up, because once they had finished eating, people began to slowly filter into the dining hall.  Eito, Suzume, and Akira came first, Akira looking dead on his feet, Suzume collapsing the minute she reached the table, and Eito making a beeline for the kitchen and not coming back out.  Amelie meandered in some time later, and then finally Landon and Shiori, helping to steady a swaying Ikki onto the nearest bench. 

“I’m okay, I’m okay, just still a lil’ dizzy,” he said, rubbing at his temple.  

Shiori patted at his shoulder.  “Stay here. I’ll go make tea for everyone!  Landon, you come with me.” 

“Alright, I’m coming…”

The two of them disappeared into the kitchen, leaving the rest of the group to stare quietly at each other.  “Is this everyone?” Gina asked after no one else showed up for a few minutes.

“I think so,” Ikki said.

“Eh heh… I guess only half of us were awake enough to come,” Akira said.  

“Well, I know Yuuto’s cleanin’ the bathroom right now so he can’t come hang out with us, but he says hi, and that we should all eat somethin’.  Dai told me to fuck off when I asked him what he wanted me to bring ‘im, but let’s pretend he also said hi, yeah?”

“I think Minta might be in the bathroom?”

Ikki snorted.  “Yeah, ours. When we left, she and Tatsuo were still fightin’ over it.  I doubt either of ‘em’ll be showin’ up soon.” He paused. “I dunno where everyone else is.”

“Who knows where they could be?” Amelie mused.  “Perhaps they’ve been murdered.”

“That’s… not very funny…” Akira said.

“Hm?  I didn’t know I was trying to be.”

“Stop trying to start stuff,” Gina snapped.  “No one’s dead.”

“Oh?  My apologies, then.  I wasn’t aware you had already gone around to everyone and confirmed this.”

“Amelie, c’mon,” Ikki sighed.  “Murder talk aside, though, if we’re still here by tomorrow, it might be a good idea for us all t’meet up in the mornings.  Just, uh… you know. To check how everyone’s doin’, yeah?”

Gina scrunched up her nose.  “What time would that even be?”

“Well, I dunno, uh… after that announcement?  I guess?”

“What a great idea,” Amelie said.  “Let us all continue to live on the schedule our captors have set out for us.”

“It was just a suggestion.  Do you got any better ideas?”

The next few minutes saw Ikki, Gina, and Amelie arguing about the idea of a morning meeting, while Akira occasionally chimed in and Suzume continued to snore.  The debate was finally put on hold when Shiori emerged from the kitchen with a large teapot, Landon right behind her carrying multiple mugs and various containers.  

“Is Eito okay?” Ikki asked as Shiori poured the tea.  “He’s been in there a while.”

“Oh, he’s okay!”  Shiori reassured. “He’s just…”

“His appetite is appalling,” Landon said.

“It really is.  I think he’s already eaten an entire box of crackers.”

“Crackers…” Ikki sighed.  “I need to get up to make food soon, else Dai’ll be pissed.”  

“Can’t you just get him something pre-packaged?” Gina asked.

“Well, yeah, but I wanna cook.”

Shiori had finished pouring the tea and was now sitting next to her brother.  “I know this is a sudden change in topic, but what do you think we should do today?” she asked.  “I’m not sure if there’s anything else for us to explore.”

“Well, I would think that we should continue to look at what we already did find,” Landon said.  “If we could figure out how to work those scanners, for example…”

“I thought you said they needed a key card,” Gina said.  “How, exactly, are we supposed to hack a scanner terminal?”

“Well, I’m not sure.  It isn’t as though I know all that much about technology.”

“Yeah, no one else does, either.”

“Does it really matter what we do, anyway?” Akira asked.  “We’re not gonna… be here tomorrow morning, are we? Cause the police are gonna, eh heh, show up?”

“I don’t believe the JPD works that quickly,” Landon said.

“You’re right,” Amelie agreed.  “They work much quicker. I suspect we’ll all be rescued by lunchtime.”  

“Oh, don’t be ridiculous.”

“In five minutes, surely.”

“Yeah, yeah, Amelie, you’re funny.”  Ikki took a sip of tea. “The tea’s good, Shiori.”

“Oh, thank you!  I found it in the back and thought it sounded nice.”

He took another sip.  “Honestly, I vote we don’t do much of anythin’ today.  I’m still beat from yesterday and all that.”

“Just - nothjng?” Gina snapped.  “You think we should just sit around until the police come?”

“Well, I mean… S’not like there’s much we can do, yeah?  We don’t got any keycards or nothin’. Plus, all the locked doors’re made of metal, so it ain’t like we can just break ‘em down.”

Akira giggled nervously.  “Eh heh… I’d feel uneasy doing that even if we could…”

“Exactly.”

“It’s quite odd that there wasn’t a rule put into place about locked doors,” Amelie commented as she swirled milk into her tea.  “There wasn’t even a single outburst yesterday during our rather blatant defacing of the facility.”

“Mononeko got mad at Izumi for breaking the door window,” Ren said.

Oh, great.  Now Amelie was looking at her.  “Hm, is that how that happened? And yet a rule wasn’t put into place?  How interesting. It seems that the people - or, hm, person, I suppose, although that’s quite unlikely - who brought us here are either incredibly incompetent or incredibly stubborn.”  She sipped her tea, and without even looking down, put another spoonful of sugar into it. “Perhaps even both. Once again, the word ‘childish’ comes to mind.”

“I think ‘volatile’ is a better descriptor,” Landon huffed.  “He certainly seemed so yesterday.”

Ren tensed, waiting for Minta to start complaining again, only to remember that she was still battling Tatsuo for the shower.  Phew.

“It would be good to speculate on just who had trapped us here,” Landon continued.  “Surely if we can figure that out, we could have some kind of upper hand over them.”

The table went silent as everyone tried to think.  Ren herself wasn’t really in the mood for any kind of deep thought, so she instead chose to waste a minute burning her tongue on the tea.

Akira was the first to speak.  “Um… they don’t like Hope’s Peak?” he half-asked, half-stated.

Gina crossed her arms on the table.  “More like they hate it, since they want us to kill each other.”

“They were able to kidnap all of us,” Ikki said, “and without any kinda interference… So, they’re probably professionals?  Or somethin’?”

“Or incompetent but quick,” Amelie supplied.  “And childish. They find the situation that we’re in to be quite amusing.”

“So, twisted bastards.”  Ikki nodded. “Alright.”

The table went silent again.  

“Oh, oh, I know!”  Suzume, who Ren had previously thought to be asleep, flung her head off the table and started waving her hand around.

Ikki looked to be moderately alarmed.  “Uh… you got an idea there, Suzume?”

“Yes.”  She leaned in.  “Mononeko… is a cat.”

She went silent after that.  

“I can’t believe you hyped us up for something so dumb,” Gina said.

Akira scratched at his cheek.  “Eh heh… well, um, he is,” he said, in what Ren thought was a pretty poor attempt at being encouraging.  “So, um, that must mean that he… likes… cats…?”

“Honestly, Suzume, if you’re going to say something, could you please have it be actually useful?” Landon asked.

Amelie’s bland smile was twitching around the edges.  “No, no, I believe that Suzume’s onto something. Surely there can only be a handful of talking cats in Japan.”

“Okay, first of all - talking cats actually exist?!”

“Of course,” Amelie said, at the same of Landon’s annoyed, “Don’t be ridiculous.”

“Oh, darn,” Suzume said, although she didn’t look too bothered by the negative response.  “Okay, and, um… second of all, I meant that Mononeko… is a robot cat! Like, a super good robot cat!  Which means that whoever designed him is, like, both super good at sewing and super good at building robots.”

“...Okay?” Ikki said.

“Nyeh… maybe there was a stuffed animal maker who got arrested recently?” Akira asked.  

“Suzume’s got a point,” Eito said as he finally emerged from the kitchen.  He was eating some kind of breakfast bar; he shoved the remainder of it into his mouth and took out another one from his pocket.  “Being able to build a high-functioning machine like Mononeko isn’t something that everyone can do. You’d have to be really skilled at it.”

“Yeah, that’s what I was thinking!  Whoever kidnapped us is super smart.”

“Well, I mean…” Ikki ran a hand through the feathers of his hat.  “Wasn’t that a little obvious already? You kinda hafta be smart to kidnap a bunch of Hope’s Peak students.”

There went the second bar, shoved whole into Eito’s mouth, and a third that was now being unwrapped.  It was almost mesmerizing to watch. “Yeah, but there’s a difference between general intelligence and the robotics skills needed to build something like Mononeko.  I think that there’s two different possibilities here: one, that our kidnapper designed and built Mononeko, meaning that they do have a large amount of technical knowledge, or two, that they got Mononeko from somewhere else, either by getting someone to build him or by stealing him from somewhere.”

“Isn’t that, like, three possibilities?” Gina asked.

“No, it’s two.”

“You don’t think that Mononeko’s, ah, an AI, do you?” Shiori asked.  “I remember reading that the former Ultimate Programmer had been developing one, although I’m not sure what became of it.”

“You think Chihiro Fujisaki did this?” Gina said.  “ _ Seriously? _ ”

“Oh, no, I don’t know enough about her to say anything.  I was just pointing out that the technology might be there for it.”  She paused, fidgeting with her cooling mug. “Although… I think that it’s true that you would need someone with a Hope’s Peak level of talent to build something like that.  For example - there was that mechanic and inventor, do you remember?”

She nudged Landon’s shoulder.  “Well, yes, of course I do, but I think it’s ridiculous to entertain this idea any more.  You don’t honestly believe that someone from the school did this, do you?”

“Why couldn’t they?” Amelie asked.  “Kidnapping future Hope’s Peak students could surely only be the work of a former one.  Who else could possibly have the skillset?”

“Um, lots of people?” Gina said.  “Just because you don’t go to Hope’s Peak doesn’t mean you’re worthless.”

“Hm?  I never said ‘worthless.’  Do you view non-students as worthless, Gina?”

“I said it because you implied it!”

“It isn’t a matter of skill,” Landon said, “it’s entirely a matter of morals.  No one from Hope’s Peak could possibly be morally bankrupt enough to kidnap a group of teenagers.”

“Hope’s Peak cares about talent, not personality,” Amelie countered.  “They’ve hosted multiple murderers and other unsavory characters within its halls.”

“Well, I’ve never heard of anything like this,” Landon huffed.  

“Just because you ‘never heard of it’ doesn’t mean it isn’t true,” Gina said.  “The 78th class had a literal serial killer - Toko Fukawa, the Writing Prodigy?  She was the one responsible for the Genocide Jack serial killings.”

Suzume yanked on her ponytails in horror.  “No way! Is THAT why she stopped writing? I’ve been waiting on a sequel for that one about the sexy fisherman for years!”

“I, uh, don’t think that’s what you were supposed to take away from that,” Ikki said, scratching his cheek as Suzume collapsed upon the cafeteria table, mourning all the books she would now never have.  He turned his gaze to Gina. “It’s pretty weird, though. I’m not trying to insinuate that you’re wrong or nothin’, but I never heard about this.” 

Gina crossed her arms.  “Well, obviously, you didn’t.  Hope’s Peak has a huge say in how they’re portrayed in the media.  Like, they basically own the news stations by this point. When word got out, all the stories ran for maybe a day before any other information about it was forced off the air.”

“Wow, that’s… pretty creepy, actually. That’s, like, some dystopian shit, right there.”

Landon sighed pushed his glasses back up his nose. “Not only are we getting patently off-topic, we’re digressing into conspiracy hogwash.  Can’t we get back to less ridiculous discussion?”

“What were we talking about?” Suzume asked.

“This isn’t ‘conspiracy hogwash,’” Gina snapped.  “It’s just typical megacorporation bullshit. There’s tons of examples of them having a sway over the flow of information.”

“Hope’s Peak isn’t a corporation,” Landon scoffed.  “It’s a government funded institution for learning.”

“Are you  _ blind? _  It acts like one.  It profits off of its own image.”

“Nyeh,” Akira began, “I don’t know if Hope’s Peak is really like that or not, but isn’t it better to believe they are?  I-I mean, eh heh, if Hope’s Peak is really powerful, then that means they’ll find us for sure! (;; •̀ω•́)”

“They’ll definitely find us.  I don’t know if any of us will actually be alive when they do, though,” Eito said behind a steadily growing pile of wrappers.

Ikki made a face.  “Dude, how can you even eat all that?”

“My doctor wonders the exact same thing.”

He shook his head.  “Anyway… I’m all outta tea, so I think I’m gonna go leave on this weirdly dark note to dig around the kitchen for somethin’ to eat.  Landon, can you help me out here?”

“Of course.  Just give me a second.”

Amelie stretched and got out of her seat.  “I do believe I will be taking my leave as well.  I can’t help but feel other people will be arriving soon, and I would rather leave before I am further distracted from all the things I plan to get done today.”

“You have stuff to do?  Like what?” Gina asked.

“Well, first I plan to sit down on the couch in the lobby.  I imagine that this will take up quite a bit of time, so I’m afraid I’ll be unavailable to do anything until my couch sitting is complete.”

Landon looked incredibly disapproving.  “Isn’t there something more productive you should be doing?”

“Hm.  No.” 

She turned and walked out of the dining hall.  Ren took another sip of her slowly cooling tea.

**\--ooo--**

Amelie’s prediction of people arriving was proven correct when Tatsuo waltzed in a few minutes later, towel wrapped around his dripping hair as he dropped in next to Shiori and asked her for some tea.  This was shortly followed by a half-undressed Minta, looking ready to commit murder as she lunged for him and demanded to know where he had hidden all the soap.

The group-wide search effort of yesterday definitely wasn’t going to be repeated, Ren observed as the morning trudged onwards. A shared hope that the police would be showing up soon, combined with the disappointment of last night yielding no means of escape and a slight fear of the repercussions of exploration lead to people not doing very much useful at all.  Ren was fine with it, herself; it wasn’t like anyone could do anything anyway, and it was probably better that everyone calm down and process the situation before they tried anything like last night again. That, and, of course, the mutual laziness meant that Ren could be lazy too.

The only problem was that - well, being in a killing game was actually really boring.  Without any access to the internet or her books, Ren was forced to find other ways to waste away the hours before the police showed up.  At home, she could easily spent a day staring up at her ceiling, but the sleeping quarters lacked the easy quiet her bedroom gave her. The thought of working, as had been suggested back at breakfast, made her feel exhausted.  She wanted something easy and mindless to do. Eventually, she settled on aimlessly wandering, and in that wandering she found herself in the dusty halls that Yuuto was trying to scrub clean. Luckily, he didn’t try to rope her into helping him, but he did admonish her when she stepped onto a recently cleaned patch.  

“You really need to pay more attention,” he scolded as he went to scrub it again.  “Have you at least gone to see Shiori about your head?”

And so, instead of the leisurely wandering she had wanted to do, Ren was sent on a search for the elusive herbalist.  It really shouldn’t have been hard, considering how small the building was, but it was still a few minutes before Ren found her in the same room she’d woken up yesterday - a fitting place for a health examination, she supposed.

**\--FILE ROOM--**

Shiori was sprawled out on the middle on the floor, doodling on what looked to be a piece of notebook paper.  Unfortunately, she wasn’t alone; her brother was crouched beside her, fumbling with the combination lock on the middle shelf of a filing cabinet.  

“Two-four-thirty doesn’t work,” he said as Ren walked in.

Shiori paused her doodling to scribble the number down.  She looked bored, but brightened upon seeing Ren in the doorway.  “Oh, Ren hi!”

“Ren’s here?”  Landon paused to look over at her.  “Good morning.”

“How are you feeling?”  Shiori asked. “Did the medicine I gave you last night help at all?  I meant to ask you earlier, but you left before I could get around to it.”

The what? ...oh.  Ren honestly couldn’t remember, being as she had spent the few hours after taking it not quite aware of what was going on around her.  “I guess,” she settled on.

“Oh, that’s good to hear!” She put her hands on her hips, which was kind of weird to watch when she was still laying down on the floor like that.  “See, Landon? It  _ did _ work.”

“I never said it wasn’t going to, just that there were better methods for getting rid of headaches.  Thirty-one and thirty-two don’t work.”

“This looks boring,” Ren commented as the column of numbers grew ever larger.  Shiori would have to get a new piece of paper sometime soon; what little space was left was filled with doodles of flowers.  

“It is,” Shiori sighed.  “Landon’s trying to figure out the combination to the lock, and he thinks the best way to do it is to just try every combination and see what works.  We’ve been doing it for hours.”

“Oh, honestly, it’s hardly been hours.  Only - Ren, do you know what time it is?”

“No,” Ren said.

Shiori finished shading the lower petal of a flower that matched the small ones on Gina’s headband.  It was actually pretty decent, Ren thought. “See? Ren doesn’t even know what time it is. I bet it’s been an entire day already.  Maybe I’ll even starve to death before you finish fiddling with the lock.”

“If it had been an entire day, we would have most likely heard an announcement about it.”

“Landon, I was joking.”

“How was that a joke?’

“Yuuto said you wanted to see me,” Ren interrupted.

Shiori stared at her, uncomprehending, before her eyes suddenly widened.  “Oh!” she said, pushing herself off the floor. “Oh, oh - that’s right! I have to examine your head!”

“That’s… what Yuuto said.”

“Oh, I should have done this earlier,” she said, and suddenly she’d gone from listlessly doodling to sitting cross-legged, back straight as she patted the ground beside her.  “Here, sit, sit! We can get started just a soon as -  _ Landon! _ ”

“What?” Landon asked.

“I am  _ meeting _ with one of my  _ patients _ .”

Landon looked back, blinking in disbelief.  “Well, I could certainly understand that from what you were saying.”

“What I  _ meant _ is that I am engaging in a private medical counselling session, and so you can’t be in here.  Haven’t you ever heard of doctor-patient confidentiality?”

“You’re not a doctor.”

She stood up.  “Shoo!” she squawked, batting at him with her hands.  “Shoo, shoo!” 

“Alright, alright, I’m leaving.  There’s no need to put up a fuss.” He paused, pushing up his glasses.  “I’m just going to go to the bathroom.”

“Landon.”

“Alright, fine.  I’ll go look around the front lobby, then, and I promise I won’t go any farther.  Is that alright?”

“Thank you.”

She watched Landon intently as he left, and then sat back down.  “Now that he’s gone, we can get right into the examination! Here, come sit down next to me.”  She patted the floor beside her. Ren, feeling a little like a dumbass for being the only one still standing, sat down beside her.  “That’s better. Now, this is just a simple little check-up, so don’t be nervous or anything!” The concept of nervousness had not even entered Ren’s mind.  “To start with, how is your head feeling?”

“It’s okay, I guess.”

“Does it still hurt?”

“I guess.”

Shiori frowned.  “I need you to be a little more specific than that, Ren.”

“Uh…”

Such was the start of Shiori’s interrogation.  The rest of it went in much the same way, with Ren giving her usual dismissive replies and the herbalist having absolutely none of it.  Halfway through, brow crinkled in worry, she asked Ren to stand, and made her go through a series of physical tests that Ren had only ever seen done in movies.

“Well, it’s certainly not a normal headache,” Shiori said as they both sat back down.  “It might have something to do with how you’ve bumped your head a few times yesterday.”

“Yuuto thought it was something serious,” Ren admitted.

“I agree.  Which is why it’s time for me to bring out… this!”  Suddenly, Shiori was holding a thick, purple book, the front of which had a simple illustration of a sick girl.  She set it onto her lap before Ren could try and decipher the title. “I’m much better at treating general illnesses,” she admitted as she flipped through it.  “By that, I mean things that plague the mind, or chronic sicknesses like migraines and sleeping issues. That’s why I carry this around with me! It’s got up-to-date information on all kinds of odd injuries.  My mom buys me a new version of it each year.”

Where had she even pulled that book from?  It was so big it looked like it hurt to hold.  “Can’t you just, like… look it up instead?”

“Computer screens hurt my eyes,” Shiori said matter-of-factly.  “Anyway… aha! I think you might have…” She looked up and grinned brightly.  “A mild concussion.”

Oh.  Great.  “So now what?”

“Ah, hm, let’s see…. Oh!  You should get lots of rest, and take medicine to manage your symptoms.  This is the part I’m really good at.” She placed the book on the ground next to her and began to rummage through the multiple pouches of her sash.  “I like to give patients remedies in the form of herbal teas, since that’s what I like, but as I don’t think I’ll be able to brew anything for you anytime soon, I’ll try to give you something that can be taken plain.  Honestly, I wish Landon wasn’t taking up the whole morning with all this nonsense...” 

She was crumbling up leaves and tapping fine powders into a small plastic bag, all without even looking down.  “Can’t he just pick one of the key locks or something?” Ren asked. Most of cabinets had them, so it was kind of a waste of time to go for the combination lock instead.

Shiori looked as though she were trying very hard not to laugh.  “That was Landon’s idea too! He can’t pick locks, though, so he tried to ask Tatsuo for help.  It, ah… it was certainly an experience.” From their interactions the other day, Ren could pretty easily guess just how successful Landon had been.  “Ah, I’ve finished!” 

She handed Ren two orange hard candies.  “First, these are ginger candies. They’ll help you with the nausea, but I’m only giving you a little bit because you should never eat too much sugar.  This -” she handed Ren a reddish-green bag “-is for the rest of your symptoms. I call it my super-duper head fixer-upper! Just put it in water or some other liquid and drink it.  It’ll get rid of the pain and that foggy feeling you keep getting. I also recommend sitting somewhere quiet and dark for a few hours, as it would be better if you weren’t moving around so much.”

“Thank you.”

“You’re very welcome!  If you need any more medicine or have any other questions, then feel free to ask me.  I would welcome the distraction.” Shiori smiled brightly, and Ren took it as her cue to finally get up and leave.

**\--LOBBY--**

Landon was waiting right outside the door when Ren left.  “I’m assuming I’m allowed to come back in?” he called into the doorway.

“Yep!  You better not have been listening in on what we were saying!”

“I wasn’t!” he said, and rolling his eyes, he turned to Ren.  “Honestly. When she asks me to do stuff, I don’t just ignore her… Anyway, thank you for entertaining Shiori for a little while.  Maybe now, she’ll be content enough to not complain every five minutes.”

“It isn’t complaining!”

“Yes it is!” he called back.  “Anyway, I hope what she gave you helps you.  Hopefully you’ll be feeling better whenever we inevitable see each other again.”

Well, Ren hoped so too.  “See ya.”

Landon nodded to her and sealed shut the file room door.

Now left alone with a list of lurid red and black letters, Ren wasn’t quite sure what to do with herself.  She didn’t have any obligations to take care of, and aside from Landon, no one seemed to be doing much of anything.  She could… well. There was a bunch of different things she could do. The question was, what appealed to her the most?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What Ren was trying to read is “le pansement de fantaisie pour les salades,” which is just google Translate french for “the fancy dressing for salad greens.” 
> 
> Writing the conversation where they discuss their kidnapper was interesting, because literally all i had written in my outline for it was “lukewarm table discussion. People go their own separate ways.” and then what was supposed to be a paragraph or two summary naturally morphed into the bulk of the chapter. 
> 
> From now on, chapters will always be 1-2 weeks unless specified otherwise. 
> 
> Next time: Ren wastes a day by unwillingly hanging out with people.


	9. Free Time Events?  More Like WASTE of Time Events!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ren tests out some card tricks, gets interrogated, and learns how to scrub a floor.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> listen. chapter titles are hard.
> 
> i'm sorry this took so long but! there's pictures in this chapter!!!! :D I've been wanting to draw pictures for this FOREVER and I finally got time!!
> 
> Anyway. This chapter is like 98% free time, 2% important plot stuff. You can probably guess at least two people who are gonna be in it, based on the summary.

**\--JANITOR’S WING--**

After choking down Shiori’s concoction, Ren had taken her advice and laid down on her bed for a while with the lights off.  Being as Dai had gotten someone to carry him over to the lobby and everyone else had gone off to do other things, it ended up being an actually decent, maybe even calming experience.  

Then, of course, she got up to use the bathroom - the one outside the room, because the sink was still funky in the single-person one.  Things went downhill from there.

“Yusuke!” Tatsuo, as loud and obnoxious as when she had seen him earlier, shouted as he moved his monstrously long legs closer to her.  “Just the girl I was hoping to see!”

Ren looked around the hallway, but unless she crammed herself into the linens closet, there was no easy means of escape.  “What do you want,” she asked.

“Lots and lots and lots of things!  Isn’t the depth of man’s greed amazing?  I’m just kidding. It’s absolutely sickening to think about.”  He placed a hand above her shoulder so that it was touching the top fuzz of the fabric.  “Mostly, though, what I really, deeply want right now… Is you. To help me with some card tricks!  Don’t you feel super special now that I’ve chosen you?”

All she had wanted was to drink some non-grody water.  What had she done to deserve this. “I’m busy,” she said.

“Wow!  I didn’t know that being super lazy counted as being super busy.  If that’s the case, then you’re almost working as hard as Pedrozo right now!  Anyway, how about you take a break to help the greatest magician of our time create some of the greatest tricks ever witnessed by human eyes?”

“You said you didn’t want people finding out about how your magic worked.”

“Yusuke, you are absolutely correct!”  He stared at her. “What, did you - do you think that I’m worried about you finding out?  Pffffffffffffffffffffffffffffft! No. To do that, you’d have to completely reverse-engineer what I’m doing, and you are nowhere near smart enough to do that!”

Well.  Ren had had enough.  She attempted to turn around, but the hand above her shoulder immediately clamped down.  “Hey, hey, hey!” Tatsuo shoved a card under her nose. “Look at this card - but don’t tell me what it is!”

Ren spent who knows how much time being the poor guinea pig to Tatsuo’s various card tricks.  After the rather impressive one from yesterday, it was almost weird to see him performing ones that fell consistently flat, to see sleight-of-hands that were just a little too slow or the way he paused in his shuffling when he put a card back in just the wrong place.

“Now, whatever card you pick should be the one you started with,” Tatsuo was saying as Ren, for the tenth time now, went to pick one up from the left side of the cards he had spread out.  

It was the ten of diamonds.  “It isn’t my card.”

“Hmm?  Are you absolutely, positively sure that your card wasn’t the five of clubs?”

“That’s not the card I’m holding.”

Tatsuo snatched the card from her hands and stared at it, face completely blank, for an uncomfortably long period of time.  “Wow! I sure bungled that one up spectacurately!” He began to shuffle aggressively. “I guess we’ll just have to do it aaaaaaalllll over again.”  

If Ren had to pick out another stupid card from another stupid deck, then she was just going to rip it in half instead.  “Don’t you do anything other than card tricks?”

“Wow, ungrateful, much?  Don’t you do anything other than be completely, 100% useless all the time?”  Ren didn’t even bother to answer that, instead just blankly watching him as he shuffled.  “I can do any kind of magic possible - card tricks, rope tricks, transportation, restoration, illusions, delusions, levitation, standard deviation, the chink-a-chink - if it’s got sleight-of-hand, I’m your man!  Anything to catch the wandering eye of a potential customer!” He held up a finger. “The card trick, however, is every magician’s bread and butter. Can you really do magic if you don’t know your way around a deck?”

“…Is that a rhetorical question, or…”

“Bzzzzt!  Wrong! The answer is that no, you can’t.  You can never ever ever ever ever be a magician if you can’t do card tricks.  They’re what got me started in magic, so they have a vewy speshul pwace in my heawrt.  Give me your barrette.”

What?  “No.”

“Huuuhhh?  I thought you wanted to see some genuine, playing card unrelated Kitano magic!  If you’re so protective of your gaudy hairpiece, how about you empty out those pockets for me, huh?” He leaned in uncomfortably close. “Huh, Yusuke?  Huh huh huh huh huuuhhh?”

Why was everyone in this building so annoying?  “Shut up,” Ren snapped, space behind her eyes beginning to pound as she reached into her pockets.  Her… currently empty pockets. “I don't -”

“Wow, Yusuke, you really need to pay more attention to your surroundings!” Tatsuo said, holding up the library card and crumpled bills that had seconds ago been in her possession.  “Just kidding. I’m just so good at what I do that absolutely no one would have a chance at stopping these amazingly deft fingers.” He wiggled them for emphasis. “Anyway, let’s see what you got.”

He started with her money.  “It’s just a few yen,” Ren said as he made a big show out of smoothing out the wrinkles.

“‘Just a few yen?’  You’ve got 6000 here and no wallet to protect it!  What could you poooooossibly be doing, walking around with all that cash?”

“I was trying to get stuff from a vending machine.”

“A vending -” Tatsuo paused, staring at her, before quickly reanimating himself.  “Vending machines don’t take 2000-yen notes! Everyone knows that. What are you, some kind of rich kid?”

“It’s only a few thousand yen.”

“ _Only_ a few thousand?  Talk about a lack of class consciousness!  I can make a thousand on a good day, and half of that’s from open purses and unattended pockets.  Not all of us are gifted money from the godly hands of our dearly beloved mothers and fathers.”

Ren couldn’t remember a time her parents had ever given her money, mostly because she had never bothered to ask for it.  The 6,000 yen had actually come from a redesign of a local newspaper’s logo that her mother had insisted she do. “You must be a bad magician if no one wants to pay to see you perform.”

“Wow! You must not have a single shred of intelligence if you keep giving out opinions as absolutely bad as that one!  I'm gonna take this money just as payment for exposing my poor ears to you horrible words.” He rubbed his hands together and the money disappeared.  He then flicked his wrist, producing from the air the final item of her pockets. “Now, let’s see if I can do something absolutely spectacular with this next - a _library card_?  Absolutely no one goes to libraries anymore!  What are you, fifty?”

“My mom got it for me.”

“What are you, your mom?”  He spun the card around on his index finger.  “Anyway… This is an okay library card, I guess.  I must say, I am 100% not a fan of the squirrel mascot.  Squirrels are probably the most obnoxious animal I’ve ever met!  Your library should get a rabbit as a mascot instead. They’re waaaaaaay cooler.  They’ve got those cute lil’ noses –“ he rubbed a finger against her nose “and floppy ears…” He grabbed hold of two strands of hair on opposite sides of her head and briefly flipped them back and forth.  “You know, I always wanted a bunny as a kid, but you know what my parents said? ‘Not now Tatsuo, you know what happened to the last one.’ Ha! What’s your favorite animal, Yusuke?”

Literally, why was he telling her this.  Why was he asking her this. When was he actually going to do a magic trick.  “I dunno.” Really fluffy owls were cute, she supposed. So were cats. And also pangolins - she had seen a video of them walking around the other day, and their little hands were just _so_ adorable.  

“Hm, hm, hm!  What a boring answer.  Could you have any less personality?”  Tatsuo paused, bending the card back and forth as he stared at it.  “You know, I really really really really hate squirrels. They just love crawling all over you while you’re sleeping.  Also, they have no sense of empathy. All squirrels are sociopaths!” The card snapped in half. “Whoops!”

“Oh, thanks.”

Instead of giving the card back to her like a normal person, Tatsuo did a weird finger wiggle and held it between his hands, such that it looked like it was just floating in the air.  “You’re very welcome! I think it looks 100% better like this, don’t you?”

“I guess.”

“Or, hm… maybe it’d also look better… like this!”

He did some kind of weird hand motion and now the side with her name was completely unscratched – almost like the day she had gotten it.  

Ren shrugged.

Tatsuo stared at her for an uncomfortable amount of time and then clapped his hands together.  He threw the library card - now completely unbroken - at her face and crossed his arms, looking almost like a child as he pouted.  “Well, here! If you’re going to be completely disengaged from all my stunning magic, then I’m not going to do any.”

Ren was thoroughly unimpressed.  “You took my stuff and pretended to break my library card.  That’s not magic.”

This was, apparently, the absolutely wrong thing to say.  “It's not - not magic?” He stood up, so worked up that he began to stomp around in a circle.  “Not magic, not magic - _Not?!  Magic?!?!_  Well tell me, Yusuke, since you seem to be such an expert on the subject, what do _you_ think of as _magic?!_ ”

“I dunno, uh…”  The discordance between the anger in his voice and the serene blankness of his smile was almost disconcerting.  Ren regretted saying anything. “Sawing people in half. Escaping from water tanks. Stuff like that.”

Tatsuo squinted at her, arms crossed, foot tapping in a facsimile of anger, before suddenly straightening up and clapping his hands together.  “Oh, I get it! You’re just dumb!” He wiped nonexistent sweat off of his forehead. “Looks like my first impression of you was right after all.”

“Wow, thanks.”

Tatsuo plopped back down so fast that Ren wondered how he didn’t break something.  “I’m going to let you in on an itsy-bitsy teeny-weeny so-small-it’s-almost-nonexistent little secret, Yusuke.  And that secret is…” He leaned in close. “…Magic doesn’t really exist! What you dumb idiots think of as magic can be defined as ‘deception.’  To do magic is to deceive! Do you understand?”

“I already knew that.”

“Great!  So, see, the best magicians divert and subvert expectations.  The magic isn’t in the performance; it’s in a magician’s ability to understand the psyche of their audience and manipulate it so that they perceive only what you want them to perceive.  I’m super great at that, because I’m super great at everything, but stage magicians are all style and no substance. They’re just a bunch of dumb idiots pretending like they can do stuff, and a bunch of dumb idiots sitting in the audience and eating up all the fake magic they’re doing.  You don’t need any kind of talent to be a stage magician!”

Ren didn't get it.  “They’re still deceiving people.”

“Ha ha ha ha ha of course you don’t get it!  We’ve already established that you’re incredibly dumb.  Stage magicians only know how to do surface level deception, duuuuuhhhhhh.  They don’t have to do any of the work since they all use pre-made tricks, aaaaaaaand they can just use fancy curtains and trap doors to do stuff the audience isn’t supposed to see.” He held up a finger.  “Now, the humble, absolutely amazing street magician… their entire livelihood depends on being able to do real magic. Example one: me! I’m waaaaaayyyyy better than any of those crummy stage hogs.”

Oh, okay.  Tatsuo didn’t like stage magicians because he thought they did tricks that were a lot easier than the ones that he had to do.  Still, though… “You’d make more money if you were a stage magician.”

Tatsuo slapped his hands down on his crossed knees.  “Wow! What an insult! What do you think I am, a sellout?  A fraud? Su-u-ure, I’d be a million-bajillionare, but at what cost?  A million-bajillion people watching me, calling for an encore after every performance?”  He clasped his hands together. “Broadcast on TV for all of Japan to see my absolutely charming features?  Wearing fancy bow ties and a hat with real rabbit ears? Girls writing me absolutely disgusting poetry that I later throw, line by glitterily-inked line, into my stunningly beautiful mansion fireplace?  Boys writing me absolutely disgusting poetry that I’ll read by candlelight every night and then tuck carefully beneath my pillow so that their rhyming of “yo” with “magic ho” will grant me sweet dreams? Everyone knowing my name?  My magic being replicated by far non-superior rivals? Going to fancy parties? Ruining fancy parties? Sleeping in a real bed? Getting to eat salads again? Finally becoming the greatest magician in the entire universe?”

He let out a big sigh.  “How absolutely awful! I would never abandon my profession like that!”

“...Okay.”  

This experience hadn’t been an entire waste, Ren thought as Tatsuo continued to prattle on about all the theoreticals of being one of those horrible stage magicians he never ever wanted to be, ever.  She’d gotten super annoyed, sure, but at least now she felt a little less wary around Tatsuo - like she understood a little better, now, how he thought. Namely, that he felt incredibly protective of his magic.

Of course, this was what she thought _before_ she discovered that he had managed to tie the money he had stolen from her into her barrette in such a way that she eventually had to get a pair of scissors to cut it out.  Screw getting to know people. The next time she saw him, she was cutting up his playing cards.

**\--ooo--**

Ren spent the rest of the morning listless, pacing back and forth between the different rooms in the facility and lying on the newly-made sheets of what was now her bed.  For a while, she entertained herself with the goings-on of other students. Watching Dai challenge people to staring contests was kind of funny, especially when he got pissed over how Amelie seemed to be incapable of blinking, but she booked it out of the lobby once he finally set his sights on her.  Akira came skipping through the halls at one point, a worn take measure stuck in his hair, and the two of them wandered for a while as Ren reluctantly helped him untangle it. Eventually, the urge to write gripped her, and remembering all the doodling that Shiori had been doing, Ren went out looking for a pen.  Her search of the lobby proved unsuccessful, as did her half-hearted perusing of the storage room (wherein she ran into Minta, who was still searching for a single bottle of shampoo), and so Ren decided to start her afternoon in the dining hall with a half-eaten box of crackers. The police had not yet arrived.

**\--CAFETERIA--**

"Ren! Ren, over here!"

The key, Ren had learned over her last few months at public school, was to be as impassive as possible. Even the slightest twitch would show the other person that you had heard them and were showing interest in what they said; to truly ignore, one had to embody the reality they were trying to create.  Such it was that Ren, who had heard the booming voice from across the cafeteria, held her leaning pose, face as blank as she always kept it.

Explosive footsteps trotted across the plastic tile, and suddenly Suzume was leaning backwards across Ren's fists, such that the two of them were looking at each other - or, more accurately, that Suzume was looking up at Ren, because Ren was not looking at Suzume's pleasant expression.  Ren was looking at her clenched hands on the tabletop. She could see them clearly, because Suzume did not exist.

"Ren!" Suzume said, in what might have been an attempt at a whisper. "Are you busy right now?"

Ren did not respond, even when Suzume went out of her way to poke her cheek and, unsatisfied by the lack of reaction, jab a finger into her mouth.  After an uncomfortable moment of Suzume tapping against her teeth (what the hell), the pyrotechnician extricated her hand and wriggled out of Ren's view, hoisting herself up such that she was instead sitting beside her on top of the table, looking at the top of Ren's ratty hair.  "Alright," she began, pulling from somewhere a yellow notepad and a sparkly purple pen, "being as you're not busy, I was hoping you might be able to answer a few of my survey questions!"

"Where did you get that pen."

"This pen?"  Suzume asked, flicking it - and the feathers messily glued to it - as she did so.  She contemplated it. "I don't remember! I think I picked it up when I first woke up here.  It might have been in the supply closet?"

"Can I have it?"

"Sure!  Or, no, wait, hold on.  Not right now. I need it to record stuff for the survey I'm doing.  Which, speaking of, you are the first interviewee! Ding ding ding!"

"I don't want to take your survey."

"Aw, come on!   You're the first person I've found that isn't busy.  And I promise that this survey is gonna be, like, super short."  

The last time she had checked, everyone had been doing jack shit.  Clearly, they just didn't want to do something as stupid as this, and Suzume was too dumb to realize it.  "No."

"Aw, but it's gonna be super fun!  Trust me."

"What is it even about?"

"Well, if you must know..."  Suzume leaned down and cupped a hand around her mouth.  "I'm investigating the love lives of Hope's Peak's most currente de la classe.  So! Ren. Question One. Do you have a boyfriend?"

Ren was regretting this already.  "No."

"Did you ever have a boyfriend?"

"No."

"Have you ever kissed anyone?"

"No."

"Have you ever had a crush on someone?"

"No."

"Has anyone ever had a crush on you?"

"No."

"Man, your love life is nonexistent!" Suzume exclaimed once she had finished scribbling.  "That's pretty weird. And kind of sad."

"Gee," said Ren, "thanks, Suzume."

"I would agree," said Amelie, who had decided to manifest herself upon the seat next to Ren.  She crossed one leg over the other. "Your complete and utter lack of game brings me to tears."  A single tear welled up within her otherwise emotionless eye and, glittering in the moldy lighting, rolled down and dropped off the edge of her cheek.  Ren had never felt such raw fear in her entire life.

"Oh, hey Amelie!" said Suzume, who was so dumb that not even a god could strike fear into her heart.  "Do you want to take my survey? It has to wait until after I'm done with Ren here, though."

"I thought we were done," Ren said in a calm, even, uncaring voice.

"Oh, well, sort of.  That was the first part.  The second part asks about your dating preferences.  It's important information!"

"I would love to take your survey, Suzume," Amelie interjected before Ren could protest.  "However, I must warn you that my love life has been quite tragic. I’m afraid it could reduce you all to tears, if I were to tell it as honestly as I have experienced it.”

“To tears???” Suzume gasped, flipping over to a new page.  “Okay, okay, what happened? What happened??”

“Can I go now,” Ren begged.

“Well,” Amelie began, shifting her legs such that now Ren was fully trapped between the two of them, “I don’t know if I should say this now.  It’s quite a long story.” She stared directly at Ren. “We could be here for hours if I were to tell it.”

“Oh, I don’t mind!  Ren, you don’t mind, do you?”

“Ren was telling me earlier that she loves romance stories like these.  I would guess that she’s quite excited to hear this.”

“Hhhhhhh,” Ren said.

Amelie’s story did not take hours, but it did take thirty six minutes and twelve seconds to tell from beginning to end.  It would have taken a much shorter period of time if Amelie, amused by Ren’s constant unsuccessful attempts to escape, hadn’t gone on multiple deliberate tangents about things like the exact kind of crops her family grew (Argentinian oranges, which were apparently oval oranges that you picked from the ground like potatoes and were given out like flowers to people whom you were affectionate with) and the current state of Argentina-Brazil trade relations (bad?).

From what Ren vaguely paid attention to, the crux of Amelie’s story was that when she was fourteen, she and a boy named Pedro had entered a forbidden romance (because, see, she was Argentinian, and he was Brazilian, and due to a trading mishap fifty years ago any interaction between the people of those two countries was literally against the law).  After that, Important Plot Things happened that Ren didn’t pay attention to - something about conspiracies and shadow governments and a plot to overthrow Brazil - and then everything naturally ended in tragedy.

“When they found us, they shot him in six different places,” Amelie was saying.  Suzume gasped. “It was quite sad.”

“What happened next?” Suzume sniffed.

“Well, obviously, I did as any grieving lover would do and begged for them to kill me, and they did as any enraged parents would do and refused.  Instead, they made me sell overpriced oranges to the Brazilians to prove my loyalty.” She winked. “Eventually, it worked, and life moved on. The end.”

Ren had never felt so immensely relieved as she had in that moment.  Beside her, Suzume clutched the edges of her notepad. “I can’t believe they shot him,” she said, struggling to hold in her tears.  “After everything you went through together… and - and the romantic RC flights…”

“It saddens me too.  I don’t think I’ll ever love someone as much as I loved Pedro.” She looked over to the side.  “Ah, but would you like to know who has a sadder dating life than me?”

“Huh?  Who?”

She nodded her head in the direction behind Suzume.  “Fuyuki.”

Fuyuki, the poor bastard, had either been in the cafeteria the entire time, or had come in  without them hearing. Upon seeing him, any unshed tears quickly dried from Suzume’s eyes. "Oh, you’re right - hey, Fuyuki!  Hey!" she screeched, motioning towards the boy who was trying to sneak across the back end of the room. "Hey! Come answer my survey!  The results are 100% confidential!"

Fuyuki froze, which gave Suzume enough time to leap from the tabletop and sprint over to where he had begun to hyperventilate.  “Oh my,” said Amelie as she watched the chaos play out. “It seems as though Fuyuki might be the first murder victim. He looks as though he’s having a heart attack.”  She uncrossed her legs and swung them over the bench so that she was actually sitting properly. “As enthusiastic as Suzume may be, I'm afraid that there isn't much hope for poor Fuyuki's dating life, given his predilection for more earthly beings, but one can’t help but admire her tenacity.”

On the other side of the room, Fuyuki had barricaded himself behind a serving counter; it did little to stop his pursuer, who was tall enough to lean over it.  If Suzume was tenacious, Ren thought, it was only because of how oblivious she was.

"It's quite astonishing, isn't it?" Amelie continued, shifting on the bench.  "Suzume is cheerful as ever, despite our distressing situation. She's acting as though this truly is the school trip that Mononeko talked of."  Ren was pretty sure that it was because Suzume was so dumb that she literally could not comprehend the danger of the situation, but whatever. "There is some merit to such an idea, though.  Wouldn't you agree?"

Amelie looked over at Ren, as though expecting an answer.  Ren looked down at the table and shrugged. "I guess."

Amelie stared at her in silence for a few moments before finally looking away, seeming almost serious as she gazed at the blank, undecorated wall.  "Mm. In a situation such as this, where everyone is pitted against each other, I believe that isolating yourself could prove more fatal than absolute trust.  While Suzume is perhaps overzealous in her friendship and naive in her belief in others, it's for the better that she gets to know the people she's been put in here with.  More information is better than none." Was she giving Ren advice? Was that what was going on here? "Unfortunately, I'm afraid our discussion will have to wait. Hello, Suzume."

"Hey, Amelie!"  Suzume said, sitting back down on the table.  "Fuyuki's still hiding behind the buffet thingy, buuuut I got a few answers outta him!  Oh, Ren, you're here, too? That's really good! I have a few more questions to ask you -"

"I have to use the bathroom, Suzume," Ren lied.

"Oh, well, if you have to do that, then go ahead!  I'll just leave a blank page here for you. I'm gonna continue with Amelie instead."  She winked. Ren could not begin to fathom why. "Be sure to come back when you're done!"

"Okay."  She was not going to do that.

"Have fun," said Amelie as Ren finally stood from the cafeteria table.  She booked it to the exit.

**\--ooo--**

The afternoon crept by at a slow and painful pace.  The students were still disinclined to do much of anything; the only ones putting any effort into a possible escape were Izumi, who Ren glimpsed trying to pry open the bars to the stairwell (much to the terror of Fuyuki, who aside from his regretful hour in the dining hall had been holed up there all day), and Landon, whom Ren had seen only twice in increasingly disgruntled states - once, to get food, and twice, with a pen and paper.  The last time, she was alert enough to ask him where he had found it, which led to her finally resuming her search in the storage room.

**\--STORAGE ROOM--**

The door opened to the sound of bristles digging into the grimy floors, followed by the squeaky circling of an unmistakably wet rag.  Already bracing herself, Ren crept through the aisles, but unfortunately her poor attempts at stealth did not help her to avoid the person behind all the obnoxious noise.

Yuuto had taken off his outer jacket, exposing the oddly frilly shirt that she could always just barely see beneath it.  He was scrubbing the floor, just as he had been doing all day, and looked up from his uncomfortable crouch right as Ren stepped into view.  “Oh, Ren, hello! Ah, please don’t step there - I just scrubbed it.”

If Ren tilted her head just right, she could confirm that the floor was, indeed, wet.  Huh. “There’s a sponge mop thing in the closet,” she said as he dipped his rag back into the sudsy bucket beside him.

“Hm?” Yuuto blinked.  “Oh, yes, I remember seeing it!  I had actually wanted to use it, but I wasn’t quite sure how the, um…”  He made a gesture that was half obscene, half reminiscent of the cocking of a shotgun.  Seeming to realize this, he flushed. “Ah, the sponge-wringer thing. I wasn’t really sure how to work it.  A-anyway! What brings you here, Ren?”

“I was getting a pen.”

“I think that I saw pens a row or so over, which is… right where I’ve just cleaned.  Ah ha. I would really appreciate it if you could wait until the floor has finished drying before you walk over there…”  He trailed off, looking at her as though worried she would suddenly walk off to do just that, but when Ren showed no signs of going anywhere (she wanted a pen but it wasn't like she was gonna slip over a wet floor to get it), he continued on.  “If you're not busy, perhaps you could help me while I wait?”

“...Help you… with what...?” He wasn't asking her to clean, was he?  Ren had never scrubbed a floor in her entire life.

“Ah, with the floors?” Oh, of course he was.  “They reorganized this room, but not one of them bothered to clean it… it’s quite frustrating, isn’t it?  It’s going to take at least a week to dust all the items. Ah, assuming we’re here for that long, that is!”  His voice dropped a few octaves. “I hope not.”

“No one’s asking you to clean.”

“Oh?  Would you rather live in a pigsty?”  As though startled by his own condescending tone, he quickly backpedaled.  “Ah, I mean… well, it’s quite filthy in this building, right? I just thought that it might be better if things were a little cleaner, so I decided to take up the task myself, ha ha!” His smile became a little pained.  “Of course, I've also been doing this all day, so I'm exhausted right now.”

“Just take a break.”

“In the middle of this?  Absolutely not. Then it would never get done!” He tossed a rag at her.  Instead of catching it, she allowed it to smack into her collar, where the cold suds began to uncomfortably seep into her shirt.  “Here - um…”

“The fumes are bad for my head.”  Well, she was guessing they would be.  Wasn't cleaner supposed to make you light-headed or something?

“Oh, there aren't any fumes for you to inhale.  This is just soap and water! Now, come on.” He stood up, almost slipping as he did so, and snatched rag back.  “A little bit of hard work would be good for you, don’t you think?”

Yuuto could be quite the pushy asshole when he wanted to be, so Ren spent the next hour reluctantly learning how to scrub a floor.  It was definitely up there on her “Worst Experiences Ever” list; by the end of it, her fingernails felt mushy and her knees had locked up so bad she wasn’t sure if she’d be able to stand.

Yuuto, however, was just as chipper as he always was, seeming perfectly content as he wrung the rag out into the sludgy bucket.

“Hm?  Is there something on my shirt?”

Oh.  She’d been staring at him.  “You sure like cleaning,” she muttered, trying to see if her legs would finally start moving.

“Oh, you mean because – ah ha…”  He scratched at his cheek. “It must seem that way, huh?  I don’t really like it all that much, to be honest. I’m just used to it.”

He had literally cleaned the moldiest bathroom Ren had ever seen in her entire life.  “…Used to it.”

“Ah, yes?   Don’t you have to clean as well?”

“No.”  Her parents had given up on that endeavor years ago.

“What _do_ you do, then?”  Ren shrugged. A dash of some incredibly disapproving expression flitted across Yuuto’s face before it settled back into his usual awkwardness.  “Well, um. My father is usually busy with the farm, and my siblings are all expected to help him out, so all that housework is usually left to me.”

“You work on a farm.”

Half-standing, half-crouched, Yuuto stopped, bucket swinging in his hands from how sudden the action had been.  “Ah, n-no? I don’t – I live there, but as I just said, I don’t actually do any farming or, ah, animal herding. I know that the setting might seem… _unusual_ for many of you cityfolk – er, normal people – but that’s where I grew up.  It’s not – it’s not that weird, is it?”

Ren could give two shits about whether Yuuto had grown up out in the country or not, and so she could not fathom what was causing his weird conniption right now.  Mostly, she was having trouble with the image of an uptight, mild-mannered person like him having come from such a rugged upbringing. “…Okay…”

“W-well, yes!  Um! Anyway, I’m in charge of all the cleaning, but I also cook and watch over my younger siblings, since my father doesn’t usually have much time.  It’s quite time consuming.”

“Can’t, like… your mom just do that stuff?”

“...” Yuuto bit his lip.  “...Ah… she isn’t… around anymore.  So she can’t help me out.”

“Oh.”  Whoops.

“But, um, moving on from that, the only other person that could really help me is Wakana, my older sister, but she decided to leave a few years ago and hasn't been back since.  So, mostly it's just me!” His smile became strained. “I’m in charge of everything my siblings don’t do. Things like washing the windows and cleaning the bathrooms and managing the budget and making dinner every night and getting everyone to school on time and then doing all my homework at midnight when everyone’s finally asleep…

"Oh, and sewing up clothes!  I’m quite good at that.”

“Really,” Ren said.  

“I - ah ha, yes, I suppose that was  - a little bit obvious, huh?” He gave a nervous laugh.  “My mother taught me how to do it a long time ago. I know that most people may not realize it, but clothing is surprisingly expensive, especially with a family as big as mine, and we aren’t really as well-off as a normal family would be.  It’s so much cheaper to just buy whatever kind of fabric or shirt is on sale and trim it to the right size. Ah, like this!” He tugged at the frilly fabric of his shirt. “It - it isn’t mine. It’s something my sister left behind. You don’t think I’m someone who would normally wear this, right?  It’s - it’s girl’s clothing.”

“...”    

“R-right. Well, we needed a white shirt to wear under our uniforms, and to save a bit of money, I just tailored this instead of buying one from the school.  So long as I wash it every night, no one knows!”

Ren had to admit, she would never have guessed that the shirt was originally outside of his size.  It looked as though it had been made for him and him alone - especially, as much as it bothered him for whatever reason, because of all the unnecessary frills.  “That was the only white thing you owned?”

“Ah, yes, it was.  The only white things we keep around are hand towels  Lightly colored clothes get dirty really easily, and then you have to use extra soap because it’s easy to see the stains, so we just don’t bother with them.  That’s another thing my mother taught me. I wouldn’t be able to do anything if she hadn’t spent all that time showing me when I was younger.”

“I see.”

“Ah, but anyway… I'm sorry.  I've just been talking on and on, haven't I?  Ah, what's your family like?”

Ren shrugged as much as she could from her position on the floor.  “I have a younger brother.”

“Oh, so do I!  Ah ha… three younger brothers, actually, and an older one as well.”

What?  “...How many siblings do you have?”

“Eight!  Six younger than me, and two older.”  He began to count on his free hand. “There’s Kenta - he’s the youngest - and then Fumi, the twins Tomiko and Tomomi, Kouki,” here he put down the bucket to free up his other hand, “ah, and then Ayumu, Nori - he has a job so he’s also not around as much - and then Wakana.  Oh, and me! I’m the third oldest.”

“...Okay…” Ren said, not entirely able to wrap her head around the idea of any family having that many kids.  She tried to imagine her house filled with seven more Michis, but it just gave her an intense feeling of acid reflux.

“You, ah… you actually remind me of Fumi a bit!”  Ren stared at him. “She’s, ah, my youngest sister.  She helps out with the pigs – which, I personally don’t think she should she be doing since it only encourages her rowdiness – and every time she brings all that outside muck in with her, I make her wash the floors.  She’s really the only one that does it, since everyone else remembers to wash their shoes off beforehand… ah, but anyway! She hates cleaning just as much as you seem to. I think she’s only a little bit better at scrubbing than you are, even though I have to make her do it every few days.”  He got quiet. “The floors must be so dirty now that I’m gone. I can only imagine how they’re all faring…”

“We’re all supposed to get rescued soon,” Ren reminded him, even though she didn’t really believe it herself.

“Ah… yes, of course!” Yuuto said, looking as though he didn’t believe it either.  “Right. Soon enough I’ll get to go home and clean everything! I can only imagine how dusty everything is.  Why, the windows…”

Rather than listening to an in-depth account of all the work he would have to do, Ren decided to just tune him out.  Forced to do all this work and listen to Yuuto talk on and on about his family… it definitely wasn’t how Ren had wanted to spend her afternoon.  At least she had gotten an explanation for his clinginess and over-attention the day before. If he had to take up a motherly role in his house, it made sense it would unfortunately leak into other aspects of his life and social interactions.

Eventually, Yuuto realized how much he had been talking, and embarrassed, helped Ren up (her back cracked as it straightened) and said that he could take care of the rest for her.  Finally, she was able to obtain her pen and leave, the steady sloshing of water following her until the door between them finally closed.

**\--ooo--**

Dinner for Ren was a spoonful of mayonnaise, two carrot sticks (for feigned healthiness when Yuuto passed her by) and a bowl what had looked like pretzels but tasted more like yams.  The police had not yet arrived.

For the most part, Ren managed to avoid interacting with the students for the rest of the night.  The only meaningful interaction she had was when she got roped into a conversation with Eito (drinking a juice packet) and Landon (hair out of place and looking ready to - well, not commit violence, but like, politely but firmly argue with a store manager or something) right outside the janitor’s wing.  Apparently, the twins had managed to get not just one, but both of the combination locks open, but their search hadn’t even been worth it. The drawers, Landon huffed, had been empty.

“It’s absolutely ridiculous,” he was saying.  “Why even put a lock there at all?”

“Was there ever a point where the two of you left the room together?” Eito asked.

“Well, yes, we left to go eat.  Why?”

“Hmm.”  Eito took a long slurp of his straw.  “Mononeko probably came in then, unlocked the drawers, and took out whatever was inside of them.”

Ren didn’t really think that made sense.  “Couldn’t they just have… like… been empty to start with?”

“I don’t -” Eito paused.  “Actually, no, that’s also possible.  Mononeko probably would have thought it was funny.  Did he ever bother you guys when you were trying to find out the combination?”

“Not once,” Landon muttered.

“It’s probably that they were always empty, then.”

Landon sighed, pushing up his glasses so that he could rub at his eyes.  “Great. I wasted Shiori’s entire day… Please don’t tell her about this.  She would be insufferable…”

“What were you not going to tell me?” Shiori, who had just emerged from the bathroom, asked.  Landon’s glasses clattered to the ground. Eito took another long slurp of his empty juicebox.

**\--SLEEPING QUARTERS--**

With nothing better to do, Ren ended up going to bed early, but like the night before, she couldn't sleep.  She counted the minutes by the clock first, and then when rest of the occupants got too loud she counted by her own breaths. One-two-three-four-five-six to take in the stale air and push it back out again.  Ten breaths a minute. She imagined, in half-formed images, the police finally finding them, only to find out that their shitty sleeping situation had caused them all to suffocate.

One-two-three-four-five-siiiiix.  She wheezed out the rest of her breath at the end, hoping it would be loud enough to wake someone up and annoy them, but of course, it did not.

It was on the cusp of morning that Ren fell asleep.  

The police had not yet arrived.

**\--ooo--**

**Mononeko's Dream Journal**

**2/17/XX**

_Last night I dreamed that I was a young child walking through a dark, brick maze.  There was no ceiling, but I was too short to see over the walls, and my arms were too weak to force myself up and over them.  Eventually, I happened upon a child just as short as me, with a map she claimed would lead her to the exit. Naturally, I killed her for it, and the last thing I remember is looking at the crinkled paper and realizing that it had been blank all along._

_The moral of the story is that you can’t go anywhere if you’re short._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here’s a picture of yuuto i doodled in class: https://www.flickr.com/photos/165627343@N02/44513017214/in/dateposted-public/
> 
> Aaand here's the picture i was originally going to have for Tatsuo's free time event, but then scrapped:  
> https://www.flickr.com/photos/165627343@N02/43444588600/in/dateposted-public/
> 
> Two fun facts:  
> 1) part of the reason why this took so long is because i had to completely rewrite yuuto's free time event. rip that conversation where ren asks yuuto about his parent's sex life (it made sense in context, i swear) and yuuto goes full "where are your manners" angry mom (tm)  
> 2) a large chunk of the suzume-amelie-ren group time event was actually written up over a year ago (i had to make a bunch of edits to it, though), and a sentence or two of THAT chunk was salvaged from a document that's probably almost two years old. it was one of the first events i ever envisioned happening. 
> 
> Next time: Ren wakes up and is sleepily thrown into the plot of Part One.


	10. Elevated Search Tactics

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Landon has some ideas on how to take their investigation to the next level - literally.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is over two weeks late because college kicked my ass. I have done nothing but write essays and study and drink coffee (which i don't even like!!!) in my free time. I’m really sorry you guys ;_; On the plus side, here's a bunch of doodles I did while I wasn't able to work on this: https://www.flickr.com/photos/165627343@N02/43986082140/in/dateposted-public/
> 
> Being as this was the first late chapter I've had, I think now would be a good time to say that even if some updates are really slow, I won't abandon this work. I've had this idea rattling around in my head for so long that I have to get it out, you know? Plus - for part one, at least - I've literally got a separate document made for each chapter in it, which helps to keep me motivated. 
> 
> Anyway. This chapter is a little funky and probably needs a few more edits, but I literally just finished it and wanted to get it to you guys as soon as possible. I also haven't actually read it all the way through, so please tell me if there's any glaring errors.
> 
> EDIT 11/11: Edited some really obvious typos + reworded a few lines to make things flow and sound better. also, in one part it said that fuyuki looked down at his shoes, but actually, he wears sandals. this is incredibly vital to his character and thus was worth pointing out.

Ren awoke to the sound of the door slamming open, and for one bleary moment, she thought that she was home.  

“Ah, good morning everyone!” called the distinctly non-prepubescent voice of one Yuuto Fukase, currently a pointy shadow against the blinding light of the hallway.  Ren hissed as she went to cover her eyes. “It’s time for everyone to get up!”

Clang-clang-clang.  He was banging a wooden spoon against a thick steel pot.  The sound was so grating that it felt like her own bones were getting whacked.

“Shut up,” Dai yelled - or, well, tried to, anyway.  His voice was so thick with sleep and mucus that it came out more as a primal, congested rumbling.  “Go way. Fuckoff.”

“I’m up, I’m up, I’ll be down in a sec,” Ikki insisted, swaying as he attempted to sit up straight.

Yuuto continued to bang on the pot.

Ren sat up just enough to get a look at the clock.  It was hard to see through her watery squinting, but she could just make out that it was… 5:03 am.  God. She was so tired she felt like she was dying. Yuuto, at least, had finally stopped his banging and was waking up each person individually.  “Where'sssss -” Ikki yawned. “Where's Landon and - and herb girl?”

In the current brightness, Ren was able to see that their two beds were now empty.  “Oh, they're already up!” Yuuto said as he prodded Dai, who was cursing through his pillow, with the spoon.  “They're actually the ones who asked me to wake you all up early. Speaking of, they want you all to meet them over in the lobby once you're done getting ready.  Now…” With foolish purpose, Yuuto strode over to where Tatsuo had yet to move. “Tatsuo, I said that it's time to get up.”

He tapped lightly on the pot.  “You gotta poke him,” Ikki said.

“What, you mean -”  Yuuto blinked down at Tatsuo's silent form.  “He's still asleep? Even after all the noise I made?”

“Yeah.  Dude can sleep through anything.”  Ikki slid out of bed, his long hair - finally freed from his hat - swishing as he staggered into the bathroom.  “Gimme a sec.”

Yuuto prodded Tatsuo uncertainly with the spoon.  After a minute, Ikki emerged from the bathroom with a bucket of water.  “Sorry 'bout the clean-up,” he muttered, and dumped it over Tatsuo's head.

Or, he  _ tried _ to dump the water.  One second Tatsuo was laying down and the next he was standing ramrod straight beside the bed, watching as the water poured down and soaked into the mattress.  He was perfectly dry, save for a few stray drops on his dark jeans. 

“Wh-wh-wh-,” Yuuto stammered.

“Wow!” Tatsuo said, as though he hadn't been asleep just moments prior.  “Trying to pull that nasty-wasty trick again, Shibuya? HA! You’ll have to move a little faster if you want more than a 0% chance of besting the great Tatsuo Kitano!”

“-at?”

“He did that yesterday, too,” Ikki mumbled.  “I call the bathroom first.”

“Fuck you,” Dai said, suddenly sitting up in bed.  “ _ I _ call it first.”

“That's not how it works, dude.”

Yuuto did not attempt to mediate their disagreement, because he was still too busy staring at the water dripping onto the floor.

“Oh?  Are we talking about who’ll be using the bathroom?” Tatsuo asked, gathering up his scarves as he twirled over to the other side of the bed.  “If neither of you can decide on who’ll go first, then I have an absolutely amazing idea of a compromise!”

“No,” Dai said.  His eyes were so watery that, instead of his glare being intimidated, it just looked like he was going to cry.  “Don’t you fucking-”

Tatsuo went into the bathroom and shut the door.

“Ah!  Son of a fuckin’ whore!”  Dai threw his hands up, the motion so violent that he almost fell off the bed.  “Piece of shit bastard bitch! Get out here so I can shove your jacket up your ass.”

Ikki scratched at his long, currently tangled strips of hair.  “I, uh… don’t think he heard you, dude. That or he’s just ignoring you.”

The shower turned on.

“Yeah, he’s just ignorin’ ya.”

Dai crossed his arms and crossed his legs.  Ren supposed that he was trying to show off how - heh -  _ cross  _ he was, but all it did was make it look like he had to pee.  “If he ain’t gonna come on out here then I’ll go to him,” he spat.  “I’ll kick the fuckin’ door down if I gotta.”

Of course, it was the mention of violence that finally snapped Mr. Mind-Your-Manners Fukase out of his disbelief.  “There will be absolutely no door kicking, Dai,” he said. For someone who had grown up in the country, Yuuto was really good at acting the part of a sniffy suburbanite.  “I think everyone would much prefer it if you didn’t fight against Tatsuo, don’t you think?”

“I wouldn’t ‘pree-feer’ it.”

“W-well, I would.  And I think everyone would also prefer it if you didn’t _ mock them _ after they very nicely asked you to not do something.”

“Fuck off, pisshead.  I’ll do what I want.”

Even with her eyes blurry from the lack of sleep, Ren was able to see the angry twitch that jumped through Yuuto.  Early mornings were bad for everyone's temper, she supposed. “Well,” he said hotly, “if you’re that insistent on being - on acting in such an idiotic manner, then I won’t stop you.  Do whatever you want. Landon wants everyone there by 5:30, though, so please be sure to be there on time.”

“I’m not doing anything you or that stick-up-his-ass tells me.”

“W-well,  _ I _ can’t make you do anything, but if I don’t see you by then, I’ll just have to find and send Izumi to come get you.”

Dai went from angry to mortified.  “You wouldn’t.”

“I very much will.”

“She’s got those fuckin’ - man hands!”

“Now, Dai, that’s not a very nice thing to say about the only one able and willing to carry you around.”  

While Dai and Yuuto argued, Ikki gathered up his stuff - his hat and his shirt, because he slept with the hat off and his jacket zipped all the way up - and stopped on his way out the door, right at the end of the bed upon which Ren was still laying down.  “You, uh… you gonna get up there, man?” 

Ren did not want to get up.  Truthfully, she wanted to fall asleep and - oh, she didn’t really know.  Just stay asleep forever, maybe. 

“Dude, if you don’t say somethin’, then I’m gonna have to come over there and poke ya to make sure you’re actually awake.”

Ren did not respond.  Ikki took a step towards her.  “I’m awake.”

“Good.  I didn’t really wanna poke ya, anyway.  But, uh… seriously though, you ain’t gonna wait on Tatsuo to get out, are ya?  Like, I’m just goin’ to the other bathrooms. You weren’t around yesterday, but he’s gonna be in there until Yuuto drags him out to that meeting.”

Actually, Ren had been planning on just staying in bed and skipping the meeting thing (or whatever the twins were calling them into the lobby for), but now that Ikki had acknowledged her presence, she guessed she couldn’t do that now.  Great. “There door’s unlocked. Just drag him out of the bathroom if he’s gonna be annoying like that,” she suggested. It was a tactic she would use on Michi whenever he would go into the bathroom and, instead of actually using it, would just pretend like he was so that he could play video games without their mom knowing.  She would open the door, close it, make eye contact with him half-crouched under the towels, and after a suitable waiting period of five seconds would start to unbutton her shorts. Sometimes he sprinted out of the room so fast that he’d bang into the stairway railing on the way out.

Apparently, though, Ren’s usual tactics were terrible, if the face Ikki made was anything to go by.  “Yeah, no. Last time, he took off all of his clothes to get Minta to stop tryin’ to open the door, and it worked so well that I’m ‘bout 90% sure he stripped the second he got in there.”

Oh.  “Gross.”

“Yeah.  I don’t wanna ever see that again, and trust me, you don’t either.”

Whatever reply Ren had been about to give was lost upon the sudden commotion on the opposite side of the room.  There were some delightfully spoken words that Ren caught too late to decipher, and then Yuuto, who looked so fed up that he was on the verge of tears, stormed past Ikki and slammed the door.  Huh. And here Ren thought Yuuto had gotten the upper hand of him earlier. 

“Dude,” Ikki said, not even bothering to turn to face Dai in the sudden dark, “the Hell’d you say to him?”   

His question was met with a clogged-up cackle, followed by a horrible, hacking cough.  Apparently, the situation was so amusing that Dai had started to choke on his own snot.  

**\--ooo--**

Once Dai had finished his coughing fit (during which time he attempted to tell them all the sick burns he had said to make Yuuto cry - Ren caught the words “hedgehog princess” and “pond water” amongst all the gagging), the morning proceeded mostly as Yuuto had wanted.  Probably the most shocking development was that Dai could now stand on his own - for, like, fifteen seconds or so, before the constant jumping of muscles beneath his skin made him fall again. It was good news for Dai’s recovery from whatever the hell was wrong with him, probably, but bad news for Ikki, who was feeling well enough that he no longer had an excuse to get out of half-carrying Dai down the hallway.

Once the drama of getting ready was over, Ren ended up not being the last person in the lobby for once.  Only half of their already small group was there, either leaning against walls (like Eito, a somehow-sleeping Suzume, and - oh, there was Sayaka, looking awkward in the corner), sitting on the ground (like Akira), fully sprawled along the faded couch and looking pissed (Minta), or in the case of the two who had called them all down here, sitting prominently up by the receptionist’s desk.  Landon was half-sitting, half-standing on its edge, flipping through some papers that contained the rows and rows of combinations that he and his sister had found out yesterday. Shiori was sitting beside him, looking distinctly as though she did not want to be there. Between his shuffling and the painful way she tapped her finger into the back of her other hand, the two attempted a hushed argument - pointless, of course, because the room was so quiet that you could hear literally everything that they were saying.

“I just don’t think it’s a good idea, Landon.”

“Honestly, Shiori, we already called everyone here.”

“It’s not like they want to be here anyway.  It’s so early.”

“It’s only five.”

“In the morning!  You’re the only person that ever wants to be up around this time.”

“I thought you liked being up this early?”

“I.  Don’t.”

“Well, if you want, I can help you back to bed.  I can wake you up a little after the meeting.”

“I’m not going to let you run this trainwreck by yourself.  And it will be a trainwreck, because I think everyone will agree that we should all just wait instead.”

“Shiori, we talked about this.”

“We did, and I know, but - Landon, it’s just such an easy way to make Mononeko angry, and -”

The door slammed open, and suddenly, it was  **Dai Hirano Hour** .  “Alright, assholes,” Dai said, and paused.

“They’re on your right,” Ikki, who he was leaning against, said.

“Yeah, yeah, I knew that.”  He wrenched himself away from his support and turned.  “Alright, assholes. Where the hell do you get off, sending twinkboy to wake us up at five in the fucking morning?”

Landon readjusted his glasses.  “Dai, I thought that snowboarders and athletes had to get up early in order to practice.  May I ask why you’re so bothered by the time?”

“How about insteada askin’, you bend down and kiss my ass instead.  Maybe if you’re average, you gotta, but I’m the best snowboarder in the whole damn world.  I’m so good that people get up on  _ my _ schedule, and  _ my _ schedule is that snowboarding don’t start till after nine.”  He paused. “Ten on Saturdays.”

“Well, that just sounds ridiculous.  How do you compensate for all that lost time?  Do you and your team train in the dark?”

“Actually, we spend part of the night doing backflips... straight into your mom’s vagina!!!   _ Bah-hah-hah! _ ”

“This is, like, the third worst conversation I’ve ever been in,” Ikki said.

While Landon and Shiori were, respectively, too affronted and disgusted to respond, the door on the opposite side slammed open, and Gina schlup-schlupped her way in.  “Hi, Gina!” Akira said, waving perhaps a bit too enthusiastically for how tired he looked.

Landon focused away from Dai.  “Oh, Gina, hello. Now we just need to wait for the final few people.”

Gina opened her mouth, paused, and then scrunched up her nose.  “What are you talking about? …This is supposed to be the lobby, right?”

“Yes, it is.  Didn’t Yuuto tell you?  We were having a meeting.”

“About  _ what _ ?  No one’s told me anything.”

“Well, it’s – ”

The door slammed open again, and a very tired Yuuto made his appearance.  “I’ve told everyone,” he said, hand tight around the stiff wrist of their resident pilot.  Behind him was Fuyuki, hunched in on himself and looking down at his sandals, and Izumi, who shook out her hair and made a beeline for the emptiest corner of the lobby.  “All the other students should be here now, right? It’s almost 5:30. I’m sorry I’m so late, by the way. I was a little bit held up with getting everyone else.”

“He had to go into the girl’s room to tell me,” Amelie said.  “He was worried I wouldn't finish up in time.”

Yuuto flushed and released her wrist.  “I – I didn’t do that! I would never… do such a thing!  I’ve never even been in the girl’s bathroom!”

“Weren’t you  _ literally _ in there yesterday?” Gina asked.

“How did - to - I was cleaning!  I was just cleaning!”

Amelie spoke over him.  “It was truly the worst morning I’ve ever had.  There I was, young and innocent, merely trying to wash my hands in the sink.”  Of all the people in the crowd, she had to make eye contact with Ren. “Naked.”

“Naked?” Tatsuo, who had suddenly appeared behind them, asked.  He was half-dressed and completely dry, save for his sopping wet curls.  From the way in which he hooked his arms around the two and leaned forward, dripping water onto their shoulders, Ren suspected that the wetness was a deliberate choice.  “Wow, Yuuto! Who would have thought you could be so manly and domineering, to go into the girl’s room and happen upon such a sight? Here I thought you were all cute clothes and cleaning!”

“Get off,” Amelie said.

“I – I – I – ” Yuuto stuttered. 

In her pocket of empty space, Izumi rolled her eyes.  “She was with me in the laundry room,” she said before Yuuto could combust.  “Got dragged over here. Can we get on with it?”

“I agree!” Tatsuo said.  He straightened up and shook out his hair, spraying everyone near him - including Ren herself - with gross, metal-flaked water.  “I was right in the middle of taking a shower, you know. This entire meeting is incredibly inconvenient!” 

“I wanna know what’s going on, since no one’s bothered to tell me anything yet.”

“Yeah, why’s it so important we’re up early, huh?”

Landon shifted in his half-standing position and raised a hand to try and placate the disgruntled crowd.  “Everyone, please, quiet down, quiet down. I’ll explain in a moment. Eito, do you have the time?”

“It’s 5:30.”

“And is everyone here?”

“It looks like everyone,” Shiori said hesitantly.  The rest of the room gave vague murmurs of ascent.  

“Alright,” Landon said, and cleared his throat - the perfect picture of professionalism.  The room fell into expectant silence as the meeting began. “To start off, I would like to apologize for the early hour.  I was hoping that, by waking you all up before the morning announcement, Mononeko would be less likely to bother us about our suspicious gathering – or, at least, that he would be content to merely observe us over the cameras.”  He paused. “I am assuming there are cameras around, at least. There was a rule about not tampering with recording equipment.”

Eito shoved a handful of walnuts into his mouth.  “I counted three in this room. One's in the plant over there.”

Sayaka, who had been standing right next to the plant, broke out into a sweat so thick that Ren could see it from all the way across the room.  Landon nodded. “Thank you. I also chose the lobby because it works well as a meeting place and allows for easy access to the list of rules.”

“Why would we, eh heh, need to see the rules?” Akira asked.

“I’ll get to that in a few minutes, thank you.  There are a few things I was hoping to accomplish with this meeting, but first I’ll ask: how is everyone doing?”

…

………Was that……

Was that…  _ all _ he was going to ask, or… 

“You’re holding a meeting to ask us how we  _ feel? _ ” Dai asked.

“Not entirely.”

Shiori jumped in here.  “That isn’t, ah…  _ quite _ what Landon meant.  We just thought it would be good to check in on how everyone is.  This is a really stressful situation, after all! We just wanted to make sure you were all handling it okay.”

“I see,” Amelie said, arms half-crossed over one another.  “You’re making sure that no one’s on the verge of murder.”

“Not exactly,” Shiori said a little too quickly. 

Ikki rubbed the back of his neck.  “Eh… I dunno about everyone else, but I’m doin’ okay, long as I don’t think about…” He waved his hand around, pointed it vaguely at the rule list, and then settled it awkwardly into his pocket.  “Well, you know, yeah? Hell, yesterday felt almost normal. It helps that that cat thing hasn’t shown up again to remind us about the murder stuff.”

“Yeah!” Akira said as the rest of the crowd murmured in agreement.  “So long as you focus on the positives, things aren’t too bad.”

“We are literally trapped here until we kill each other to get out,” Gina said.

“(・∀・ ;)”  Akira seemed to shrivel into himself.  “...Um… He-he… ”

Minta snapped her fingers.  “Um, hello? Yes, over here?”  The students turned to Minta on the couch.  Ren could very suddenly feel her headache come back.  “Yes, thank you for your attention! Minta would like to say that she is feeling quite terribly right now.  She does not understand what positives there are to focus on, and would like to let Landon know that this has been the worst experience of Minta’s life so far.” 

“Oh, that’s quite understandable,” Shiori said.  “I feel so sick any time I think about what Mononeko –”

Minta waved her hand dismissively.  “Minta does not care about this ‘Killing Game.’  Minta gets death threats in the mail every day. She is quite used to things like this by now.”  She sat up. Several people in the room stiffened. “Minta would like to complain about the place in which she has been forced to stay.”

An undercurrent of annoyance ran through the room.

“Oh my God…”

“This is the fifth time this morning…”

“Are you serious?  Again?”

Amongst all the displeased murmurs, Landon sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose.  “Minta, I don’t mean to be dismissive of your problems, but you’ve already told us numerous times that you find this place to be uncomfortable.”

“Yes, and none of you have done anything to help poor Minta.  None of you have even said, ‘Oh, Minta, we are ever so sorry that you are feeling so badly.’”

“No one gives a shit about how bad you feel,” Dai snapped.  “We’re so fuckin’ sorry that you wanna go crawling back to your fuckin’ mansion because none of your butlers have been around to clean your toe smegma.  The rest of us are doing just fucking peachy.”

“That is easy for you to say!”  Minta shrieked, gripping the couch arm so tight that Ren thought the fabric was going to burst.  “You, who gets to sleep on a bed and have people get things for him and has people actually listen to  _ what he tells them to do. _  Of course things are so peachy for you!”

“We do listen to you, Minta,” Landon said, sounding as though he’d rather be anywhere but here right now.

“If that is true, then why is no one rushing to make Minta more comfortable, hmm?  Or why was Minta awoken in the middle of the night by a door she explicitly asked Gina not to slam?!”

“Wh - I told you, the door just does that!” Gina snapped.  “It’s not my fault it doesn’t close properly!”

“If Gina is so aware of this fact, then Minta wonders why Gina still chose to leave?  Could it be that she, like so many of her other classmates, hates Minta and wishes to see her  _ suffer?! _ ” 

Landon pushed his glasses up to rub the corners of his eyes.  “Minta, when I asked the group how they were feeling, it was meant to be a general assessment of morale.  We’ll be able to address whatever specific problems you have after the next part of this meeting, okay?” 

Minta scoffed.  “Minta’s problems cannot wait until after the meeting.  She insists they be resolved as soon as possible.”

“Well, I’m sorry that you see it that way, but I would rather continue on to matters that concern the entire group.  I would appreciate it if you were to stop wasting our time with your complaints.”

“You –  _ wasting your time _ ?”

“Frankly?  Yes.” Wow, Ren thought as Minta clutched at the loose fabric of her shirt.  Shut down completely in only two words. Ren _ wished  _ she had that kind of skill.  “Now, is there anything else anyone would like to add?  Mononeko hasn’t bothered any of you, has he?” The group agreed that he had not.  Landon nodded. “Okay, so that was the check in,” he said, scribbling on the paper.  “For the most part, everyone seems to be well, which is good. If no one has anything else to say, I’ll move on to what I was hoping we could discuss next?  Okay, good. We’ll move on to main portion of the meeting, then, which is: planning out what we’re going to do today. I was hoping to discuss this with you all before the start of the day so that we could make the most of our time here.  To begin, I would like us all to summarize what we accomplished yesterday. Shiori and I will start.” He cleared his throat and shuffled around the papers. Shiori tried and failed to cover her face with a single hand. “Yesterday, Shiori and I examined the two filing cabinets in the file room that were locked with dial combination locks, and through trial-and-error, we discovered the combinations to both of them.  However, we also discovered that the drawers they locked were… empty.”

Shiori nodded through her hand.  “So… we didn’t end up really find out anything.”

“Well, that's not necessarily true.  We found out that they never had anything in them.”

Shiori puffed out her cheeks and shoved her hands onto her hips.  “Landon, that isn't useful at all.”

“It’s useful because now we know not to waste our time on the others,” he said quickly.  “Anyway, that was what we found out. Who would like to go next?”

Suddenly, Suzume was awake.  “Oh, oh! I’ll go!” she said, waving around her arm.

“Uh… Suzume, why don’t you start?”

“ _ Yesss. _  Okay, so, first I woke up when Akira woke up, and then we went to go eat together, and after that I talked to Dai for a while –”

“You don’t have to go into that much detail,” Landon interrupted.  “I was just hoping to hear about what you had accomplished in terms of the investigation.”

“The… investigation…?”

“Yes, the investigation.  The one that we started the first day we got here?  Where we discovered the janitor’s wing and found the card readers?”

“Ohhhh,  _ that _ investigation, duh!  Hmm…” Suzume went silent for an uncomfortably long period of time.  “Um… does pressing random buttons on the card reader thingy count as doing something?” 

“Well, no, it doesn’t, unless you somehow randomly figured out how to operate it.”

“Dang… I guess I didn’t really do anything, then.”

“I didn’t do nothin’ either,” Ikki said, holding out his hands.  “I already told ya yesterday that I was takin’ it easy for the day.” 

Landon nodded in acknowledgement.  “Well, yes, I remember you saying that, but surely everyone else didn’t bother wasting their time like that?”

The room was silent.

“Ah,” Yuuto began, “I did a lot of cleaning yesterday, so I was a little too busy to do anything else!”

“Minta cannot think or act in conditions like this,” Minta complained.  “Minta does not understand how all of you can live in ugly, dirty places such as this.”

Tatsuo crossed his arms behind his head.  “I dunno about you guys, but I was so absolutely drained from all that hard searching I did that I decided to take a break yesterday!”

Amelie nodded.  “I, too, took a short break.”

“You slept on the couch half the fuckin’ day,” Dai snapped.

“Yes.”  She winked.  “Only half.”

Akira tapped his fingertips together.  “Eh heh… I thought we were, um, waiting for the police to show up? (；ówò)” he asked.

Landon’s face was one of a broken man.  “I - well, yes, but that doesn’t mean we should just go around doing nothing all day.  Not - not one of you even  _ bothered _ to look for anything useful?”

“Tried to get the bars off the stairs,” Izumi informed him.  Her head was twisted so that she was looking off at the wall as she scowled.  “Didn't work.”

“Well, that's one person I suppose, but really, how can you all just waste time like that?”

“What, you think you’re better than us, huh?” Dai snapped.  “Sitting like a douchebag and lecturing us on how bad we are?  If you're so amazing then what'd you do yesterday, huh?”

“I already told you.  I looked at combinations.”

“And what’d you find out?  Jack shit! You’re just as bad as the rest of us.”

Landon opened his mouth, but instead of answering he jerked his head down to look at the paper, scribbling out a few sentences and then tapping his pencil against the edges in some irregular rhythm.  “Okay, so yesterday… No one got anything done. Good. I’m going to change the topic of discussion, but before I do, is there anyone that did something and didn’t have a chance to say it?” 

Silence.  Shiori gave him a half-sympathetic pat on the back.  “Well, I think it’s good that no one did much of anything.  It’s always good to take breaks when you’re feeling stressed out!”

“Shiori, we’ve been kidnapped.  We can’t afford to waste time.”

“I am well aware of that,  _ Landon. _ ”

Whether he was oblivious or uncaring of the exasperation that Shiori immediately began to exude, Ren couldn’t tell, but the smooth way Landon ignored her and continued on meant it was definitely one or the other.  “Alright. Well, now that we’ve finished with a recap of yesterday, we can continue on to the final part of the meeting: figuring out what we’re going to do today. I had been hoping to build off of whatever discoveries you had made yesterday, but it seems we’ll just be working off of what we did two days ago.  What I thought we could do is make a list of what we want to investigate, and then split off into groups to investigate these things. Is this alright with everyone?” 

There was some awkward shuffling.

“Oh  _ come on. _ ”  

Next to him, Shiori was worrying her bottom lip.  “I think it makes sense that everyone’s a little hesitant.  I was thinking about it a lot yesterday, and - well, I just don’t think Mononeko would appreciate it if we were to sneak around in places he obviously doesn’t want us to go.”

“We weren’t bothered the other day.”

“Well, yes, because apparently there wasn’t even anything in the drawers to start with.”

“You know,” Eito said, trying to turn his packet of walnuts inside-out, “there’s a really simple solution to this.”  He licked the inside of the wrapping. “Just don’t go looking at the exits. It’s the only place the rules explicitly say we can’t go.  Everywhere else is fair game.”

“How are we supposed to know what is and isn't an exit?”  Shiori asked.

“I mean…” He crumpled up the wrapping.  “Just don't go looking at that door over there, I guess.”

He was referring to the door in the front of the room.  “What, you mean - ” Shiori looked back and forth between him and the door.  “You mean that’s the way out of here?”

“Probably?  If this is a lobby, then that’s gotta be the entrance into it, and I’ve never seen a lobby that you didn’t enter from the outside.  Plus, it’s the only place on this floor that might be one.” 

Gina put her hands on her hips.  “If we’re supposed to be trapped in a _ multi-floor building _ , then  _ why _ would they put us on the floor with the way out?”

“I dunno.  Maybe they thought it was funny.”  He paused, a thumb dragging down his bottom lip as he thought.  “Actually, that’s probably why…”

Landon re-adjusted his glasses.  “I think it’s perfectly reasonable to assume that the door there is an entrance, as much as it doesn’t look like one.  And yes, Shiori, I agree that it’d be foolish to try and break out of the building. We’ll consider the door off-limits for today’s investigation.  Does everyone agree with that?”

Minta, who was still in a sour mood, swung her legs back and forth off the edge of the couch.  “Minta would like to know what the point of investigating is if it does not even lead to her exiting this horrible place.  Minta thinks that Landon should stop wasting her time with pointless activities.”

“I would hardly call it pointless.  We’ve been kidnapped. Don’t you think it’s important to understand the building our kidnapper has trapped us, and find out the specific things he doesn’t want us knowing about it?”

“I, uh, gotta agree with Minta there, man,” Ikki said, cringing at the way his assent made her eyes sparkle.  “It just seems like an unnecessary risk, yeah? I mean, we spend all day lookin’ at - I dunno, the walls - and after almost gettin’ sliced up, we find out they’re, what, made of brick?  Seems like a waste of time and an unnecessary source a stress.”

“It’s… not brick…” Fuyuki whispered.  “It’s… cinder block… Except, um… in the laundry room.”

“Right.  My bad, man.”

“They have a point, Landon,” Shiori said.  “There really isn’t anything left we could investigate.  Isn’t it better just to wait until the police come?”

Landon rolled his eyes.  “Oh, honestly, I wasn’t going to suggest we search  _ here _ ,” he scoffed.  “Obviously, unless we were to do an in-depth search - which I now doubt any of you would want to do - spending our time up here would be a waste.  I had instead hoped we could expand our investigation to the floors beneath us.”

…Really…?

“You want us to look at the other floors,” Gina said.  “The ones that Mononeko put bars in front of  _ specifically _ so we wouldn’t go down them?  Are you  _ stupid? _ ”

“I would hardly call this a stupid idea.  It stands to reason that if Mononeko has blocked us from accessing the elevator or stairwell, whatever we can access with them is clearly something he doesn’t want us to know.  As such, it’s likely they lead to something we can use against him, or perhaps to another exit. I think it would be prudent for us to see what’s down there.” 

“Eh-heh,” Akira said, “um, but… isn’t that against the rules…?”

“Is it?  I would disagree.”  His tone made Ren blink and finally focus back in on the conversation.  Something had suddenly changed about Landon’s demeanor, but what was it?  Was it the fact that he was suddenly sitting up? That he’d stopped tapping his pencil against the papers?  The way he now adjusted his glasses to perfect straightness? “Which specific rule are you referring to?”

“I believe the rule is the very first one on the list behind you,” Amelie said.  

Landon hoisted himself up onto the table, shifted his legs around, and plopped down on the opposite side.  “The first rule on the list,” he muttered, raising a thumb up right next to it. “It says, ‘students are free to explore the Super-Duper Top-Secret Facility for some Super-Duper Talented Students with minimal restrictions.’”  He whirled back around. “Now, if you were to look at these rules without any critical insight, it would be easy to assume that meant that we may not access the lower floors, as our captors have clearly tried to ‘restrict’ our access to them.  Ah, but see… look here, at the wording. ‘Minimal restrictions.’ Now, a restriction would be any obvious thing that might hinder our movement, but the key word here is ‘minimal.’ ‘Minimal,’ of course, refers to an almost negligible amount of something.  Think for a moment about the nature of - oh, say, the bars on the stairwell. Would any of you consider that to be a ‘minimal’ restriction?”

Oh, Ren realized, suddenly feeling as though she were trapped back in Calculus and being asked a question she hadn’t paid attention to.  That’s what was weird. Landon had suddenly become… academic.

“Umm, isn’t it still a restriction?” Akira asked.  “...Um..”

“The hell’re you trying to say?” Izumi asked.

“It’s - alright, perhaps I should just say it, then.”  He tapped his finger against the rule list - a soft mimicry of a meter stick against a chalkboard.  “I don’t believe a roadblock such as a gate barring our entry to what might possibly be multiple floors could ever be considered a minimal restriction.  It’s quite the major restriction, actually, due to just how much of the building we cannot explore because of it. I would also argue that any other restriction barring our access to the lower floors can be considered a major one for this very same reason. for this same reason.  As the rules only account for minimal restrictions, and not major ones, exploring past the first floor is not against the rules!”

There was a triumphant look about him as he smiled wide, showing off the same buck of his sister beside him, whose own smile was forced and thin-lipped.  “That’s… right,” she said, hands clasped tight in her lap. “Landon realized this the other night, and has been  _ very eager _ to share this with you since then.”

Well.  In Ren’s own opinion, Landon’s explanation was a crockpot of bullshit and technicalities, and if he ever tried to use it as justification to Mononeko, the cat would probably kill him halfway through just because of how utterly flimsy it was.  But, you know. That was just her opinion. And from the uncomfortable way Shiori was looking at him and the way the two had been arguing earlier, Ren guessed that even if she had bothered to say anything, it would have in no way encouraged Landon to rethink his plan.

“...Ah,” Yuuto began, scratching his cheek, “well, ah, I certainly agree that it would be good to continue with the investigation, but… well, Mononeko was angry at us the other day for trying to get past that locked door in the hallway, and I’m certain he’ll be even more so when he catches us trying to - well, weasel our way out of the rules.”

Landon’s grin became a smirk.  The expression was completely out-of-place on his normally serious face.  “Ah, but you still managed to unlock it, didn’t you? And that actually would have been considered a minimal restriction - it was only blocking two rooms.  It makes sense that he would have gotten mad. But the metaphorical red tape on the elevators and the stairs? That’s not in any way what’s described. If you can get out unscathed from an actual rule break, then we should be okay doing something that doesn’t even violate them.”

Yuuto just looked even more confused.  “Ah, well… we didn’t quite break anything, but, I suppose what you’re saying makes… some sense?”

“It does?” Suzume asked.  “Can you explain it?? I wasn’t really paying attention and now I’m  _ super _ lost.”

“It really isn’t that hard to understand,” Landon said.  “The rule only bars us from going through small restrictions.  We should be okay going through big ones.”

Shiori raised her hands, opened her mouth, and let them drop back down to her lap.  “Honestly, Landon, I don’t know what to say. I just… don’t think it’s safe to try and use loopholes against an individual who clearly has no regard for the law, especially when the loophole goes against the intention of what he wrote.”  

“Ah, but see - Yuuto.”

“H-hm?”

“Why didn’t Mononeko punish you for opening the door?”

“Oh, ahm… Well, we didn’t really open it ourselves, but Fuyuki said that the definition of ‘minimal restrictions’ was vague, and so we shouldn’t get in trouble for trying to… break it down.  Mononeko ultimately agreed, and let us pass through safely.”

Well, Ren thought, that wasn’t quite what had happened, but it wasn’t like she cared enough to correct him or anything.  Plus Landon slapped a hand down on the desk immediately after he had finished explaining, so it wasn’t as though she could have corrected him anyway.  “See, Shiori? While I won’t argue that he’s a volatile figure and certainly has no regard for the laws governing this country, I think that we can assume that he  _ is _ reasonable with regard to his self-appointed rules.”

“I don’t think that’s what that meant at all,” Shiori said.

“So, what?” Dai asked.  “You’re saying that we can get past the obvious barriers to other floors, just ‘cause Mononeko fucked up when he was writing the rules?”

“Yes, that’s it exactly.  I also believe that, since Yuuto’s group was unscathed, we’ll also end up fine if Mononeko bothers us about our rule-breaking.”

Ikki frowned.  “Yeah, that’s true n’all, but… don’t one of the rules say that they can just add rules?  That means that they’ll find out what we’re doing and just write in more specific rules, yeah?”

“Oh, that certainly won’t happen,” Amelie said.  “Not at first, I believe.”

She did not continue to talk.  “Do you, ah… You wanna elaborate on that, Amelie?”

“Oh?  Do I need to explain it?  I apologize. I falsely believed that you would know what I was talking about.  My mistake.”

“Wow!  Talk about condescending!” Tatsuo exclaimed, resting one of his pointy elbows on her shoulder.  Her bland smile curdled in displeasure. “Don’t worry, Pedrozo. You’re clearly waaaaaay too smart to talk to all of us super-idiot-dumb babies, so I’ll translate for you.”  He winked. “No need to thank me!”

“My, Tatsuo.  You’re ever so generous.”

“I know, riiiiiight?”  He dug in his elbow. “But aaaaanywaaaay, what Pedrozo was trying to telepathically communicate to all of you was that if Mononeko didn’t add a rule about locked doors after what went down with Fukase’s group, then there’s no way he’d add a rule now!  That wouldn’t make  _ any _ sense!”

“Mm.  That’s half right.”  Amelie had shifted such that her foot was now trying to crush his.  Neither attempted to move. “I believe that if we were to push them far enough, they would indeed instate a rule against it, but the act of figuring out just how far we could go is useful on its own.  How angry must Mononeko get before he admits his rules were poorly worded? It would be quite interesting to find out.”

Shiori looked panicked.  “You’re not planning on doing that, are you Landon?  Please tell me you’re not going to deliberately anger Mononeko.”

“Well, it would certainly be good to know...”

“Landon,  _ please _ .”

“Alright, alright.”  He held out his hands - or, he held them out as well as he could, when they were gripping a pen and a stack of papers.  “No, Shiori, I’m not going to needlessly anger him. Does that make you feel better?”

“Yes, it does.  But - oh, anything you do is going to make him angry!  Can’t we just put off the investigation for today?”

In the corner, Izumi shook out her hair and stood straighter, a dangerous edge to her smile as she spoke.  “Heh… If Mononeko even comes near us with his claws out, then… well…” She cracked her knuckles. It was an awful, grating sound.  “I’ll fight ‘im!”

Yuuto looked at her in alarm.  “Ah… I’m sure it won’t come to that, Izumi!  You definitely won’t have to fight anyone! Please put your hands down.”

Landon nodded.  “Yes, that’s right,” he said.  “There won’t be any fighting, because we’ll be careful about how we get onto the next floor down, okay, Shiori?”

Minta snapped her fingers.  “Minta would like to know how Landon thinks he will be able to even make it to the floor beneath us.”  

“Well, I would suggest sawing through the floors, but I don’t think we have the proper equipment for that.  This leaves two main points of entry - the elevators, or the stairs.”

Gina crossed her arms.  “I thought we couldn’t go down the stairs.  You know - because of the card reader that literally none of us could get working because we don’t have a  _ key card? _ ”

“Well, it isn’t as though we spent much time examining it.  We could spend time doing that today.” He paused to scribble something down.  “If anyone would like to give any ideas on how to reach the floors below us, I will now be writing them down.  Please feel free to say any idea, although I would appreciate it if you could refrain from saying anything blatantly terrible.  For example -”

“Oh, I know!” Suzume said.  “What if we just  _ asked _ Mononeko to let us go down there?”

Landon sighed.

**\--ooo--**

The next half-hour was spent debating just how to get onto the other floors.  Suggestions ranged from the downright ridiculous (“What if we got Eito to eat the bars?”  “I took karate in third grade, so I bet if I just punched the floor  _ really hard- _ ”) to the reasonable (“What if we pried open the elevator doors?”) to the so-stupid-it’ll-get-us-all-killed (“If we start a fire, then Mononeko  _ has _ to let us out.  It’s only safe.”).  Ren didn’t pay much attention because she figured she didn’t need to.  It wasn't like she was going to willingly participate in the dumbass brigade, and so long as she stayed out of Landon’s line of sight, her lack of skills and hopefully ghost-y presence were sure to keep her from being assigned a team.

Despite all of the less-than-stellar suggestions, the group eventually cobbled together some strategy of searching that Landon approved of.  Bored out of her mind, Ren watched blearily as he scribbled it down with the rest of his incomprehensible notes. “Thank you,” he finally said, now at the end of all of his paper, “those were all… certainly ideas.  Now that we, uh, have gathered this ideas, I think that we can now form into groups to carry them out. I suppose I’ll start by saying that I won’t be directly participating in any of the groups. Being as I’m the one who organized this meeting, I think it would be best if I continued to use my skills to oversee the search process, deliver messages, and get items that some crews might need.  That way, we can search efficiently. Are there any objections?”

Minta raised her hand.

“Yes, Minta?”

“Minta thinks that she should oversee the searching instead.  Everyone loves her and she is very good at leading, as evidenced by the leadership seminar her father let her go to last year.  Also she is very good at criticizing things.”

“Objection denied.”

“What?!”

“Minta, that wasn’t even an objection.  That was just you bragging.”

“It was Minta listing all of the reasons why she would be a better leader than Landon!”

Landon pushed up his glasses to rub his eyes.  “When I asked for objections, I was hoping you would give a reason as to why I, specifically, shouldn’t lead, not describe why you’re fit for the job.  Then I planned on picking someone else to lead in my place.”

“Alright then.”  Minta drew herself up, looking positively bitter.  “Minta thinks that Landon, is ugly, stuffy, boring, and has a horrible yellow sweater that hurts Minta’s eyes every time she looks at it.  Minta declares him to be unfit to lead. Is that a better complaint?”

“Well, no, all you did was attack who I am as a person.  You didn’t actually discuss my ability to lead.”

“The personality of a leader affects his ability to lead.”

“You said my sweater was ugly.”

“And it makes Minta’s fashionista heart ache every time she sees it!  How can Landon be an effective leader if his shirt makes the students long to die instead of work?”

“I think his sweater looks nice,” Shiori said, sounding a little hurt.

“Of course you would think his sweater is nice.  You are his sister, and are therefore destined to look up to him and find his clothing generally appealing.”  Minta smirked. “Luckily, Minta is an only child, and is thus released from this horrible curse. She feels quite sorry for poor Shiori, who is forced to find beauty in ugly things.”

“I bought it for him for his birthday…”

Landon tapped his pencil against the paper.  “To be frank, Minta, I think that the way you’re acting right now proves that you’re unfit for leadership.  Your objection is once again denied.”

_ “Unfit for leadership?! _ ”

“Yes.  You’re acting like a brat.”  Minta jerked back as though he’d slapped her.  Verbally, Ren supposed he had. “Anyway, if there are no other objections, then I will be the one to oversee the searching.  Of course, I won’t be doing this alone. Shiori will also accompany me and write down progress -”

“Absolutely not,” Shiori interrupted.

“Oh, _ come on,  _ Shiori.”

“Landon, you made me write all day yesterday.  My hand still hurts.”

He glanced from Shiori’s cramped fingers to the paper and sighed.  “Fine, fine. You’re right. I guess we’ll get someone else to do it.”  He paused, scanning the crowd. “Ah, Minta, would you like to do it, since you originally wanted to look after everything?  It’s almost the same job.”

“No,” Minta sulked.  She had curled up into a ball and wrapped her cape around her, so only the buns atop her head were sticking out.  “Minta does not want to spend her day following after someone as mean as Landon was to her.” 

“Alright.  I won’t argue with you on that.  If anyone wants the position, then please feel free to speak up.”

“Can’t you just do it yourself?” Gina asked.

“Well, yes, I suppose I can, but I think it would be nice to have one you sharing a position of power.  Also, it’s much easier when there’s someone around helping me.”

“Your handwriting’s also really bad,” Shiori said.

“No it isn’t.”

“Landon, I can’t even read what you just wrote.”

“ _ I _ can read it.”

“Of course you can!  You already know what you just wrote down!”

“Alright, fine, I’ll ask someone who has nice handwriting to do it.”

Ren really should have recognized the warning signs.  Literally every single red flag was there - the need for someone to write something down, the discussion about handwriting, Ren’s own desire to do absolutely nothing that always, literally  _ always _ was thwarted in some way - but Ren was half-asleep, and she had felt far too self-assured in her half-hidden position by the door to let worry creep up on her.  

“Ah… Ren!” Landon said, twisting around to look at her.  “You’re a calligrapher, correct? Would you be interested in taking notes for me today?  I know you weren’t feeling well the other day, but this job would be fairly low-stress, so I think it would be better than any of the other ones we’ve decided on.”

Everyone was looking at her, and normally she wouldn’t care, but in this specific instance it made a prickly feeling spread out across her skin.  Well. Shiori had given her medicine the other day, and she was currently giving her an almost pleading look, so for her sake, Ren considered the request for a solid two seconds.  Upon receiving the results of her consideration (a blaring  **ABSOLUTELY NOT** ), she then delivered these results to Landon in a manner she thought would best convey what her answer was.  “No,” Ren told him, and then turned, opened the door to the hallway, and immediately started walking back to the Janitor’s Wing to sleep.

Of course, she didn’t end up getting far, but it was nice to have pretended.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dai Hirano: Ultimate Teenage Boy
> 
> This chapter was originally going to have a TON of Minta talking, but I cut out a lot of it because she kept leading the group into unnecessary tangents. I'm talking, like, a thousand words or so of cut text. Minta why do you waste my writing time like this
> 
> I think I'm going to split the next chapter in half, so hopefully you'll be getting a shorter chapter a lot sooner than usual. I guess we'll see?
> 
> Next time: Ren is finally forced to get a job.


	11. Secretary's Scribblings, Part One

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ren learns a bit about electrical engineering, watches a fight, and gets away with not doing any work.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (important stuff in this note!! please read it!!!)
> 
> this chapter is brought to you by countless rewrites and hours of stress!!!
> 
> anyway. i'm really sorry for the unannounced, almost two-month hiatus, plus for being late with my update when i finally did decide on a date. College hit me hard, then the holidays hit me hard, and then i ended up having to scrap almost everything i wrote and rewrite it, hence why this is now split into two parts. i'm gonna try to finish the next chapter by 1/6, give or take a few days. hopefully it'll be out before then, since i know exactly how i need to reorder/rewrite in it (basically..... everything..........). and then the next two chapters after it are both half done... could it be i'll actually get to the motive before my next semester starts???
> 
> okay. something REALLY important: i have a tumblr now!!! here it is.
> 
> gertritude.tumblr.com
> 
> i'm planning on keeping it mostly related to this fanganronpa - ie, putting in updates on the writing process so i don't just dissappear for like two months, posting lots of dumb doodles, etc. I already have some drawings and complaints about this chapter posted. Plus, if you ever wanna ask questions about this story/make comments/say whatever, that's where i'll be! i have anonymous questions turned on, so you don't even need an account to ask stuff. of course, you can also leave reviews, or just read quietly. whatever floats your boat B)
> 
> anyway, here's the long-awaited chapter eleven! it's REALLY rough (i haven't even read all the way through it) hand missing one of the pictures i wanna put in. i'm gonna post an edited version of it later tomorrow, i think? i just wanna post the rough version now cause i feel really bad about all the delays :(

Ren made it halfway down the hallway before Yuuto and Izumi got her.

The problem, she thought, feet stuttering against the floor as Izumi dragged her by the back of her collar, was that people just kept assuming stuff.  Yuuto assumed that she cared enough about her actions to listen to his speech on manners and “acting like a proper lady.” Landon assumed she had an interest in helping everyone leave.  Everyone always, because she had nice handwriting, assumed she was good at taking notes. It must have been some kind of faulty association thing, she thought - like, if she wrote nice, it meant she had an attention to detail that transferred over into other writing-heavy activities, like studying and test-taking and, of course, taking notes.  

Everyone had thought it, those first two weeks she went back to public school.  That had been the only time she could remember hearing positive things about her winding their way around the hallways.  Did you hear? students whispered. She’s the daughter of so-and-so. She got private tutors cause she’s too smart for school.  She’s so cool she doesn’t talk to anyone. Her work got put into a museum. That’s her writing on the Japanese Lit cover.

Their first test had been a history one.  Some brave group of friends had assumed that she’d wanted to study with them - and, maybe, despite her notes full of calligraphy practice and her cold response and the way the one girl had cried, Ren’s reputation could have been salvaged, if not for that next Monday when they had gotten those tests back and Ren’s, filled with bright red slashes and a grade so low her teacher had lambasted her in front of the entire class, had combined with her prickly personality to make her the laughing stock of the whole school.

The Hope’s Peak students, of course, hadn’t yet had this epiphany.  

Ren really loved it when she got back into the front room and the students started paying attention to her, again.  Her favorite part of the whole ordeal was probably how they all ignored her obvious signs of not wanting to do shit in favor of agreeing with Landon’s decision and not letting her get a word in edgewise.  At least Ikki, of all people, had been sympathetic, although he had expressed this with a double-pat “sorry there champ” condolence on her shoulder, which had only annoyed her even more.

Ren Yusuke, the official note-taker of the Landon brigade.  God, she wanted to go back to sleep.

**\--FILE ROOM--**

“How long are we doing this for, anyway?” Shiori asked, hands flitting about as she fixed Ren another round of medicine.

The three of them - Ren, Shiori, and the self-appointed leader himself, Landon - had retreated back into the archive room following the end of the meeting.  It was Landon’s idea; he had wanted a private place for the three of them to figure out what to do, while also giving the groups enough time to disperse. Shiori had agreed, and it was immediately upon their entry that she pounced on Ren’s noticeable lack of well-being.  According to Shiori’s book, insomnia was a symptom of a concussion. She was so adamant about this that Ren didn’t even bother to argue otherwise.

Landon paused in his scribbling.  “Oh, I only imagine about fifteen minutes or so.  I thought that would be enough time to let to let the others get set up, before we went out and asked them what they needed.”  

Shiori sealed the medicine in the same bag Ren had been using for the past few days.  “Well - yes, I agree that that’s a good idea, but I meant it generally. Don’t think I didn’t notice how you didn’t say how long everyone would be working!  You’re not expecting everyone to work all day, are you?”

“What else are they going to do?”

“Landon!” she snapped.  “Not everyone is as used to working obsessively on things as you are.”

“I don’t work obsessively.”

“Oh?  How long were we in this room yesterday, again?”

“Only about ten hours.  I’m not sure I understand what your complaint is.”  She glared at him, and he quickly switched tracks. “Well, how about we ask Ren what her opinion is?”

Ren did not respond at the first or second prompting, but she gave in when he started to snap his fingers under her nose.  “I don’t really care. I guess.”

“You guess about what?  I was asking how long you thought everyone should work.”

“Why are you asking me.”

“Well, you’re an outside party, aren’t you?  In this situation, you’re like the union representative who communicates the needs of the factory workers with their employer.  It's important to see your viewpoint.”

“Landon, you said there wouldn’t be any convoluted metaphors,” Shiori muttered.

“It wasn’t convoluted, and I am _trying_ to make a point,” he muttered back.

Ren decided to ignore their argument, and then keep the ball rolling and deliberately ignored the obvious meaning behind the union simile.  “You said I was a note taker, not a representative.”

Shiori, triumphant, put her hands on her hips.  “See, Landon? No one understands it when you start talking like that.”

“It was a simple comparison,” he complained.  “I - okay.” He rubbed the bridge of his nose.  “I suppose your answer wasn't too important, anyway.  How about we drop the issue and focus on something more immediate, like briefing Ren on what she needs to do?”

Rem’s deliberate misunderstanding and general lack of enthusement towards her future task was apparently enough for Landon to brand her an idiot.  He spent quite a few painful minutes over explaining what she had to do. It basically boiled down to this:

As the note-taker, Ren was expected to follow Landon around and take notes whenever he said to.  All her other misgivings aside, the worst part of everything was she hadn’t even been given a notepad to write on.  Instead, Landon considered four pieces of notebook paper with the perforated edges still attached to be sufficient, and then went the extra mile and gave her an extra blank sheet, if she “needed more space.”  At the top of each page, in Landon’s indecipherable handwriting, was the name of one of the groups they would be keeping track of. The rest of the sheet was blank, because Landon had falsely assumed Ren would use it to keep track of a group’s progress and write down the items they needed from the storage room.

There were four different groups to keep track of today.

****ELEVATOR** **

**-suzume, ikki**

Once the explanation was finished and a probably sufficient amount of time had passed (it was hard to tell without a clock to go by), the three of them stepped back out into the lobby to check on the closest available group.  Ikki and Suzume had been paired together to figure out how to access the elevator, and while the idea of Suzume’s involvement in just about anything set Ren on edge, she hadn’t heard any alarming noises in the file room, so she assumed, at the very least, that neither of them were dead.  A glance over at the elevator confirmed this. Suzume was bent over the call button, looking none the worse for wear with a few tools and a pushed-aside potted plant next to her; in the corner by the hallway doors, she could she the metal chain she kept on her jeans, her two barrettes, and Ikki's jacket, the owner of which was currently missing from the room.

Suzume was concentrating so heavily that she didn’t notice Landon until he was almost right above her.  “Ah, Suzume?” he asked, leaning forward.

Suzume tilted her head back, blinking as she took in the boy hovering above her.  Her mouth parted - probably for some kind of overly friendly greeting - and then whatever was going on in her brain seemed to grind to a halt, her smile falling as her eyes darted back and forth between the three of them and whatever it was she was working on.  “Woah!” she finally said, the most serious Ren had yet to see her. “Woah, stay back!!!”

“What’s-”

She jumped up, forcing Landon to take a few hasty steps backwards.  “Hey, hey! This area…” She struck a pose. “...Is off!!! Limits!!!”

Behind her, something sparked.

“Are you… messing with the wires?” Shiori asked, trying to peer over her pigtails.  

“Yep,” she said cheerfully, before once again adopting a serious expression.  “Working with electrical equipment is super mega dangerous. Unless one of you guys has experience or wants to be electrocuted - which would be, like, super bad - then you need to stay five feet away at all times!  That’s the Suzume Rule for working on stuff.”

It was this scene - Shiori and Landon huddled awkwardly close to Ren, who was expending more mental energy towards figuring out whether to write with a ballpoint pen or the seven-colored monstrosity that Shiori had handed her, Suzume with a hand outstretched and doing some kind of complicated formation with her legs - that Ikki was greeted with upon bursting into the lobby area, his intense expression quickly shifting into one of befuddlement.  “Uh,” he said.

“Ikki!” Suzume exclaimed, untangling herself into a more comfortable stance.  “You got the goods?”

“They - uh - got tape, but no gloves,” he said, tearing off a piece of the thin, black roll he was carrying and handing it to her.  She took it and promptly wrapped it around one of the wires. “Looks like you’ll have to handle most of this solo.”

“Aww, it’ll be okay, Ikki.  You can just hand me stuff.”  She paused as he gave her the next piece of tape.  “Wait, where’s all the stuff we needed? Is it in your pockets?  Was all you could find super small miniature versions of the stuff that could fit into your pockets??”

“Uh…”

She slapped her hands on her cheeks.  “That’s soooo cuuuuute! Can I see?”

“I, uh - Suzume, we should prolly tape up the rest of these wires first, yeah?”

“Ohmygosh you’re right!  Aghh, I need to concentrate!!!”  She taped up another one, turned back to him, and winked.  “Thanks, Ikki-o my bro-eo.”

“No problem, yeah?”  He turned to the group Ren was with.  “Hey, guys. I’m guessin’ you’re doin’ your check-in thing?”

“We were hoping to,” Landon said, “but Suzume told us it was too dangerous to see what you’ve been working on.”

“Makes sense.  There were live wires, yeah?  Suzume’s only safe ‘cause she’s wearin’ those gloves.”

“They’re electric ones,” she chimed in, wiggling her fingers before going back to taping.  “It’s a good thing I was wearing them when they kidnapped me, or else I would have been super-fried!”  

“It’s ‘cause of how they did stuff, yeah?  Like - Suzume, is it cool if I show ‘em -”

“Oooone second.”  She finished her wrapping, squinted at it, and then gave them a double thumbs-up.  “Okay! S’aaaaall good, man.”

The place Suzume was working was the exact spot the call button for the elevator was - or, should have been.  Currently, it was a nothing more than a rectangular hole in the wall from which variously colored, now-taped wires hung.  The wires had been a surprise, Ikki explained. They had thought the poorly drilled plate on the wall had just been covering the call button, but after they had finally gotten the screws out, it had turned out the button had been removed.  No, not just removed, Ikki corrected himself. More like cut out? The wires and metal behind it had a bunch of jagged edges that made it seem as though someone had just gone in there with a pair of shears. They hadn’t even bothered to patch things up before they put the other plate on.  Anyone that touched it could have been electrocuted.

“It’s just weird, yeah?” Ikki finished, crossing his arms over his chest.  “I mean, I don’t know much ‘bout electrical stuff, but even I can tell this is, like, bad work.”

“Mononeko’s making us kill each other. He doesn’t care about safety,” Ren said.

“Well, yeah, I know that, but you’d think he wouldn’t put us in immediate danger, yeah?  Ain’t no fun in that. Plus, if you look right where the button got cut out, it’s all jagged.  Probably spent forever tryin’ to get it off when the right tool would make a clean cut in a few seconds.”

“Either way, it seems as though we can’t call the elevator,” Shiori said, biting her bottom lip.  “Maybe it would be best if we just gave up on it?”

“Oh, don’t be ridiculous,” Landon said.  “They’ve hardly started on anything. The best course of action would be to manually open the doors.  We could find you some form of crowbar from the storage room, if you’d like.”

Ikki scratched the back of his neck.  “We thought about doin’ that actually, but there’s, like, a whole ton of other problems that coulda happened if we just pried the doors open.  The main one I was thinkin’ of is, what if the box ain’t even on our floor? We prolly couldn’t get the doors closed again, so it’d just be a walking hazard.  ‘Specially for Gina, since she’s blind and all. One wrong step and, uh…” He whistled and pointed his thumb downwards. “You know. Kinda dangerous. So we’re workin’ on the innards instead.  Or, Suzume is, I guess. She knows this shit better’n I do.”

“Then you could cut a hole in the center of it, perhaps?  It would give you an opening into the elevator, but it would be harder to go into.”

“Can, uh…”  He turned to Suzume.  “Can we even do that?”

“Hmmmm…” Suzume’s eyebrows crinkled as she thought.  “I don’t know about cutting, but if you got a really big blowtorch -”

“Yeah, no,” Ikki interrupted.  “Just - look, man, I don’t wanna be a downer or nothin’, but we already ran through a buncha ideas, and all except the one were pretty bad.  I actually got a list - somewhere - here.”

He rummaged through his pockets and emerged with a crumpled piece of paper, which he promptly handed to Landon.  Unfurling it revealed a list covered in both red and black ink, as well as various doodles.

“There were a buncha other ideas, but we didn’t really write ‘em down,” Ikki admitted.  Considering Suzume had written most of the list, Ren wasn’t really surprised.

Landon, who had shifted his glasses up to read, let them fall back down onto his nose.  “You didn’t cross out this last idea, here,” he said, pointing to the bottom of the list.  “Is this the idea you’re intending to go with? Hot-wiring the elevator?”

“Sorta.  It’s more like we’re gonna make a new button and attach the wires to it.”

Landon rested a hand on the edge of his glasses, appearing to be deep in thought.  “Isn’t working with the electrics like that a little… dangerous?” Shiori asked.

“It’s only dangerous if you don’t know what you’re doing!” Suzume chimed in.

“Um… does that mean you _do_ know what you’re doing?”

“Heh heh…”  Suzume smirked.  Ren supposed it was meant to be a dramatic look, but she was a little too cutesy to make it anything other than mischievous.  “Yes.”

“I can vouch for that,” Ikki said when Suzume didn't elaborate.  “Like, uh… if ya turn over that list, you'll see what I mean.”

On the back of the super cool idea list was multiple columns of what Ren guessed to be tools, each one increasingly more alien than the one before it.  There was a level of technicality to it that made Ren feel like they should be typed up on a set of blueprints, rather than written out in Suzume's bouncy red lettering.   "I don't even know what halfa these are, man,” he continued, voice low as Suzume once again distracted herself with the wirey innards. “I mean, the radio station I worked at had a pretty understaffed tech crew, so I spent mosta my time working on the broadcastin' stuff, but s'not like I really got into the guts or anythin' of 'em.  And when I asked her, she just said stuff like 'oh, it's the one with the little hammer thingy,’ like she thinks I know what that is. The last time I used a hammer thingy was back when me and Ma tried to hook up our air vent with the guy next door. I had to hammer it a little cause it was too big to connect to ours.” He paused. “Actually, uh, that's pretty illegal.  Pretend you didn't hear that, yeah?”

"Hear what?" Shiori asked.

"Ha ha, you get it!"  Grinning toothily, he leaned down and ruffled her hair.

While Shiori attempted to duck away, Landon poured over the contents of the list.  “Ah… Suzume, do you want us to fetch these items for you? You’ll have to describe what some of them look like, however.  I’m not sure if the group in the storage room will know what to look for, otherwise.”

Suzume flapped a hand.  “You don’t have to worry about those.  Ikki already got them for me!”

“He did?”

Just outside of Suzume’s line of sight, Ikki had frozen.  “Uh…” When she turned to him expectantly, he made a show of patting down his jeans.  “I… think I forgot ‘em in the storage room. Yeah. My bad.”

“Aw, man!  That’s okay.  I’ll got get them.”

“That’s quite alright, Suzume,” Landon said.  “Part of the check-in in seeing what items you require and bringing them back for you.  That way, you don’t have to stop working to wait for items.”

She whistled.  “Our own delivery service…?!  Fancy!!” She pointed down at the list.  “Okay, the first thing I’m gonna need is a multimeter -”

“One second, please.”  He turned to Ren. “Ren, could you write all this down?”

Ren was currently trying to figure out how to write “maple tree” in the most maple tree-ish way possible, but Landon’s question cut her concentration in half.  “I don’t even know what that is,” she said.

“Oh, it measures amps and voltage!” she said, as though those terms would have meaning to Ren.  “Okay, so the next one…”

**\--FLOOR 1 HALLWAY--**

“Suzume’s so smart,” Shiori said once they had finally left the lobby.  “I know we're all Hope's Peak students, but I never would have thought…”

It was an agonizing twenty minutes later; Landon and Shiori walked on ahead while Ren dragged her feet behind them, still trying to figure out the best way to carry the stack of drawings Suzume, as per Landon's request, had eventually made for them.  Compared to her other doodles, they were surprisingly technical. She had even gotten out a ruler for some of the weirder shapes.

Landon nodded in response.  “Talent certainly comes in all forms.  I’m especially glad Suzume has it, if it means she can implement her idea.  Being able to manually control the elevators is a terrific idea, especially if the inside buttons have also been removed.”

“Don’t you think it's a little dangerous, though?  I mean, accessing the elevator is dangerous enough on it's own, but going ahead and learning how it's wired seems like we're just trying to make Mononeko mad.”

“Mad as he might be, he can't do anything to stop us.  There isn't a single rule forebidding us from looking at how things are wired.”

Shiori's footsteps stuttered.  “Landon, you are _impossible_ , sometimes.”

Their next stop was the Janitor’s group.  Ren could only hope they would be less argumentative then her current company.  

**TRASH CHUTE**

**-tatsuo, dai**

Of course they weren’t.

The trash chute in the hallway of the janitor’s wing was small and square and, according to some very precise tape measurements, just big enough to fit even Izumi’s broad shoulders through.  Unfortunately, their access to it was restricted twofold: first, by a mess of chained knots, and second, by a padlock at the end of them. Tatsuo, claiming to have experience with locks and lockpicking - which didn’t make much sense to Ren, considering he supposedly didn’t work with the high-end magic that would normally use them - had been assigned the padlock, whereas Dai, having experience with knots from some of his snowboarding trips up remote mountains, had been assigned to get the chains unwound.  

This was only a decent group if you ignored every aspect of their personalities that prevented it from _being_ a decent group, but Landon, of course, had insisted they work together anyway.  The result of this mistake could be witnessed the second they stepped into the Janitor’s Wing and saw Tatsuo working on opening the padlock, unhindered by the spitting, raging snowboarder he was blithely sitting upon.

“Get-off-” Dai said, what was probably a snarl coming out more as a wheeze.  The door slammed behind them, alerting the two to their presence. “Hey, come fucking help-”

Before Dai could say anything else, Tatsuo’s hand shot out and slammed his head down into the floor.  He looked over and winked, wiggling the fingers of his free hand.

“What on earth is going on, here?” Landon demanded, stomping up to them.

"Mrrrppphhhh," Dai said from the floor.

“That looks painful,” Shiori said, twisting her sash in her hands.  “It’s not healthy to have your breathing restricted like that, either…”

Landon put his hands on his hips.  “Tatsuo, this behavior is absolutely unacceptable.  You will get off of him right this instant.”

“Hmmmmmmmmm-”

“ _Tatsuo._ ”

“-hmmmmmmmmno can do, Ybarra!” Tatsuo finally said, attempting to pick the lock with his only free hand.  “My absolutely gorgeous butt sitting on this absolutely hideous back is the only thing keeping this violent killer from trying and failing to attack us all!  He may be utterly incompetent at everything he does, but even the biggest of failures can get lucky a miniscule number of times.”

“I'll miniscule your dick,” Dai choked out before his head got smashed back into the floor.

“Anyway, what can I do for you fine individuals today?  I would offer an invitation to one of my totally amazing magic shows, but as every one of you can so clearly see, I am completely occupied with picking this lock.  Looks like you'll have to come back laaaaaaaateeeeerrrrr!”

“We're here to check up on you.  The _both_ of you,” Landon added pointedly.

“ _Both_ of us?  Why would you wanna check on _both_ of us, when you could spend the entire time checking in on _me_?  I'm way better than Hirano!  I'm so much better I could make a list and spend the entire rest of eternity talking about it!  Reason number one: I'm way more handsome than he is. Reason number two: I am way more intelligent than he is.  Reason number three: I don't sweat. Sweating is for gross stage magicians who stand under the hot lights all day, and for people who are just as bad as them!  Example person number one: Hirano, who is staining my entire body. Just look at how disgustingly wet my fingers are!”

His hand, previously tangled in Dai’s hair, was put on display for a worried Shiori and a completely unimpressed Landon.  It looked kind of sweaty, Ren guessed, but only if you looked at it a certain way under the light.

Shiori, evidently, thought otherwise.  “It isn’t a good sign if he’s sweating this much,” she said, crouching down to try and look at Dai’s face.  “Have you been over-exerting yourself?”

“Have I been - I’m being exerted on right now!” Dai snapped.  “Tell him to get off before I _make_ him get off!”

While Dai spewed out his usual unusual barrage of insults and threats, Landon seemed to reach the end of his patience.  “Tatsuo, you are aware that to access the trash chute, Dai needs to be able to untie the chains, are you not? How do you propose he does this with you sitting on him?”

His question was met with the continued clacking of bobby pins as Tatsuo resumed his one-handed lockpicking.  “Weeeelllll… I don’t know a single thing about your eyesight, Ybarra, but I know that mine is incredible, and with my amazingly incredible eyes, I can very clearly see that I am still picking this lock!  You are aware that you cannot untie a knot until both of its ends are free, are you not?”

The last sentence had been a scarily good impression of Landon’s educated tone.  Beneath him, Dai let out a mucus-filled cough. “Ha! That was good.” He paused.  Ren looked up from her papers just in time to see the horror of having found Tatsuo not terrible flash through Dai’s face.  “Wait, no!!!” He squirmed. “Fuck you!”

“How do you know it was tied before it was locked?” Landon asked.

The click-clacking of bobby pins stilled.  “Hmmmm? Whatever did you just say, Ybarra?”

“Well, you’re asserting that there’s no point to letting Dai up, because you need to pick the lock before the chains can be untied.  But how do you know our captors didn’t lock this and then tie up the chains?” He smirked, too caught up in the point he was making to see the increasing tenseness of Tatsuo’s figure.  “Perhaps the lock is a red herring, and it’s this mess of chains that are keeping the chute closed. Wouldn’t it make sense, then, for Dai to examine them first, before you waste even more time on the lock?  Say, how long have you been trying to pick that, anyway?”

“Ha!  He’s - ”  Dai snorted.  “He’s been tryin’ since we got here!  What kind of shitty magician can’t even - ”

Slam.  Ren was pretty sure she heard a crack, that time.  

“Hirano doesn’t need to look at them because I can!” Tatsuo cheered.  “So how about you shut your hideous little buck-teeth and stop distracting me before your awful condescension makes me mess up more than it already has, hmmmmmmm?”

His words didn’t even slightly ruffle Landon.  “What do you mean, you’ll look at them? Dai was put here because he has experience with tying and untying knots.”

“Wow!  So do I!  Haven’t you noticed the beautifully tied scarf I keep wrapped around me at all moments of the day?”

“They look like fairly basic knots to me.”

“Really?  And what do you know, Ybarra, about knots?  Because as I can perfectly remember, you told me and all the normal students back in the lobby that you had no knowledge about knot-tying whatsoever!”

“I think even I can identify a basic knot.”

“Caaaaan you, Ybarra?  Are you absolutely, positively -”

Landon reached out, perhaps to tug at one of Tatsuo’s scarves, but the magician shot out his hand and wrapped it around the outstretched wrist before it could get too close.  “Ah-ah-ah!” he said, wagging a finger. The twitching of his eye betrayed the levity of his voice. “No touching the goods.”

“How am I supposed to know you’re good at tying knots if you don’t show some evidence of it?”

“I shouldn’t have to prove it, Ybarra.  You should just accept it as the 100% correct fact that it is.  Any real magician needs to be able to tie knots, you know! Rope, scarves, marriage -”

“Well, you’re not a real magician, are you?” Landon interrupted.

Everyone in the hallway stilled.

Tatsuo’s eyes widened, his pupils shrinking down to pinpricks.  Despite all his bluster earlier about not sweating, a thick line of it broke from his forehead, trailing down the corner of his now-tight smile.  “I’m - _hmmm?_ ”

“You said you were just a street magician, not a stage one.  I would doubt that any of them would have a rope or scarf on hand, let alone know how to tie one like a proper performer would.”

Oh, this was gonna be _bad_ , Ren thought, and it seemed just about everyone but Landon knew it.  Dai, silent despite his head having been released, watched the proceedings with a bloody grin; Shiori, looking torn between extreme annoyance and concern, wrung her sash.  “Landon -”

Landon ignored her.  “This fact, along with how defensive you’re getting, inclines me to believe that you don’t actually know anything about knot-tying.  I might even say that you don’t even know how to pick locks, given your refusal to teach me the other day and your current failure with this one, and that most of what you claim to do is merely posturing on your part to look better than your peers.  Am I wrong?”

“Landon,” Shiori muttered, “you need to shut up right now.”

“Shiori, you can’t deny that what I’m saying -”

Tatsuo stood up.

“Why, I - not a real - _faking -_ ” He took in a shuddering breath, and when he spoke again, his tone was murderous.  “What do _you_ know about _my_ magic, Ybarra?!”

Multiple things happened in quick succession.  

Tatsuo jerked his arm forward - maybe to punch Landon, or drive him into the opposing wall, or just point at him angrily like he had at Ren the other day - and Landon, perhaps finally realizing just how badly he had fucked up, stepped just barely out of reach.  Shiori screamed. Dai, now freed from Tatsuo’s oppressive weight, hacking up mucus and spit and blood from a possibly broken nose, pulled himself upwards, and grabbed hold of Tatsuo’s scarf before he once again went tumbling to the ground. Tatsuo lost his footing and fell backwards, the two boys merging into a tangle of bruised limbs and newly directed ire.  Blood splattered; Tatsuo choked; and Ren, situated safely in the background, bore half-attentive witness to it all, the scraping of shoes and fists and muttered curses just barely louder than the pounding that had finally begun to beat its way into her brain.

“C’mere asshole -”

“Ghhhkk-”

“No, no - both of you, _stop!_ ”

By some miracle, Landon got between the two of them, finally ending the fight.  “You are _acting_ like _children_ ,” he said through gritted teeth.

Dai attempted to shove Landon’s arm, currently keeping him back, out of the way, but was unsuccessful.  “Yeah, well, that’s what happens when you stick me with a fuckin’ baby!”

Tatsuo didn’t respond.  He just stood there, bobby pins bent between his clenched teeth, twitching slightly as Landon kept a firm grip on his chain of scarves.

Eventually, Landon got them calmed down enough to separate - a surprising feat, considering that Tatsuo seemed to harbor as much anger towards him as the boy who’d just choked him out.  In spite of Dai’s clearly worse health, Landon convinced Shiori to attend to Tatsuo first; in the meantime, Dai was given a precious few minutes to examine the chains he had been kept from “for fuckin’ hours.”  Ren, who had already gotten vaguely comfortable on the floor next to him, was subject to the brunt of his grumbling. “Who fuckin’ ties shit like this?” he muttered between his wheezes and general misgivings about Tatsuo, voiced just loud enough for the other to hear.  His clogged voice felt especially painful under the harsh overhead lights.

Eventually, Shiori released Tatsuo, who promptly went back to the lock; Ren, in turn, scooched away, allowing room for the herbalist to finally treat Dai.  He was forced into silence for a few minutes as Shiori, big book in hand, blotted his nose - luckily not broken - and checked his breathing, but once she had determined that all that time with his chest being crushed hadn’t hurt him too bad, he turned and addressed Tatsuo, finally giving him the results of his own examination.  

"The chains are melded together, dumbass,” he said while Shiori mixed together some kind of paste.  “You unlocking the padlock won't do shit."

Very, very slowly, Tatsuo turned his head to face Dai’s.  “Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm?”

“I just said, they melted the chains together.  You can’t untie them, so there’s no point -”

He was interrupted by the rattling of chains.  “Are you absolutely, positively sure about that, Hirano?  Because I think that you’re so sick, you can’t even see straight!  You’re so ill that the thin threads of white matter you call a brain have turned to mucus!  They must have, if you can’t tell a totally obvious knot from a melted ball of -” He must have reached the same part that made Dai draw his conclusion, because he stilled once again, smile dropping off his face.

“See?  I fuckin’ told ya!”

Instead of responding, Tatsuo dropped the chains and refocused his examination on the padlock.  “They melted the inside of the lock,” he said after a few moments.

“They what?”

“Wow!  I had been wondering why my usual Kitano magic wasn’t having a single reaction!  It turns out the entire inner mechanism is an absolute piece of shit!!!”

He threw down his bobby pins and tugged the curls of his hair, looking as though he were about to cry.  Next to him, Dai let out a sharp, snotty cackle. “I can’t do shit, and you can’t do shit! Who’s useless now, huh?!”

“You’re right,” Tatsuo said.  “I’m just as much of a useless idiot piece of trash as you are!”

This time, Landon was much faster at dispatching the fight; he yanked Tatsuo back by his scarves and swiftly stepped between before Dai could even finish his attack.  “That’s quite enough. Both of you need to calm down right this instant.”

“I’m the perfect picture of calm, Ybarra!  Who wouldn’t be, after wasting a million bajillion hours on something and suddenly being told their work was absolute gutter trash?  I don’t know about you, but my absolutely favorite pastime is doing this and then trying to figure out a completely different approach to getting this lock open!”

“Is it even worth it, to try and find another way to open it?” Shiori tentatively asked.  “Surely there isn’t too much value in the trash chute. You aren’t really thinking about making someone climb down there, are you, Landon?  Please tell me you're not.”

Tatsuo whipped his head around.  It was actually kind of gross, how much his neck could twist.  “Of course this is worth it, Kotobuki!” he exclaimed. “There’s no way shoving a hundred and fifty pounds of flesh and easily breakable bone down a very long, extraordinarily straight chute could ever have anything BUT positive results!"

“I vote we shove Tatsuo down there,” Dai said.  

“Really?  Because I think that we should shove Hirano down there, because he’s so incredibly small that he’ll just float to the bottom!”

“I’m made of heavy muscle, pencil dick-”

“Both of you, stop it.”  Landon sighed and pushed up his glasses.  "Tatsuo, Dai, we aren't going to be shoving anyone down there.  All I want to do is see what it looks like. Assuming that the trash depository area is located at the very bottom of this building, I think taking a look at it could give us a good idea as to how this building is laid out, don't you agree?  Especially if the trash chute continues up above us. It's always possible that this isn't the first floor."

"The stairwell only goes down," Ren said, scribbling out yet another ugly character.

"Ah, that's true, but who's to say the elevator doesn't?  Perhaps there's a floor above us that you need permission to access."  

“Wouldn’t that be best to Ikki and Suzume, then?” Shiori insisted.  “And I doubt there would be light in the chute. We wouldn’t even be able to see how far up or down it goes - just that it goes up or down.  It’s a little, um.” She hesitated. “Well, useless, don’t you think?”

“Useless?  Who you callin’ useless, huh?!”

“Wow, Hirano!  If you had in any way been listening, then you would already know that she called everything we were doing useless, not you specifically!”

Leaving the two to their non-violent bickering, Landon turned his focus towards convincing his sister.  “That claim about not being able to see certainly isn’t true. It’s likely that there are flashlights in the storage room, and if it turns out the chute is too long for their beams to reach all the way down, I’m sure there are other way to gauge its length.”

"I was gonna chuck shit down it," Dai said.  "You can see how high up you are from how long it takes to fall.  Did it all the time as a kid." His smile grew to a toothy smirk. "I'd spit on the ski lift and count how long it took to hit someone!  Gah-ha-ha!!!"

He chortled, hacking up more mucus as he did so.  Some of the spit actually flew onto Ren’s papers. Gross, she thought, tearing off the dirtied edges and letting them fall to the floor.

Shiori fiddled with her braid.  “But, you can’t do that here, can you?  If they fused the chain and lock together, doesn’t that mean you can’t open it?”

Dai snorted.  “All those chains melted together means they’re just another shitty knot.  You know what you do with shitty knots?” He did not wait for her answer. “You cut them!”

“What, you mean…”  She blinked. “The chains?”

“Whaaaaaat?” Tatsuo said.  “Come on, Hirano, how dumb are you?  You can’t just cut through a bunch of thick, metal chains!”  He winked. “You have to blow them up! Duuuuhhhhh!”

“Blow them up?!”

“What, are you fuckin’ stupid?” Dai snapped.  “You can’t just strap a bomb to the trash chute!  Where’re we supposed to hide when it goes off, huh?”

“Behind you, of course!  You’re so super muscle-y and strong and kind that you’ll sacrifice yourself for the rest of us.  Think of how greatful everyone would be at your funeral.”

“I’m not gonna die so some jackass like you gets to snot all over my coffin!!”

“What about a blowtorch of some sort?” Landon asked.  “Perhaps there’s a chef’s one that could be repurposed.”

“Wow, Ybarra,” Tatsuo said, leaning down and digging his elbow into his shoulder.  “For someone who says nothing but trash almost 100% of the time, you just came up with a halfway decent idea!”

“You’re not being serious,” Shiori said.  “Landon, please tell me you’re not being serious about the blowtorch.”

Landon frowned.  “I thought you’d always wanted to see someone use a blowtorch.”

“Well, yes, that’s true, they’re very cool, but-”

“Ah, Ren, could you write that down?  ‘Blowtorch.’ As well whatever other items Tatsuo and Dai want to try.  Perhaps even a combination of them might work best?”

“I wanna try a chainsaw,” Dai said.

Tatsuo tilted his head.  “Hmmm? What’s that, Hirano?  You want to use something designed to cut wood, and only wood, to completely hack through a bunch of steel chains?  That’s what you wanna do? Is that it, Hirano?”

“What?!  They’re cool.  You wouldn’t know ‘cool’ if you fucked off to the Antarctic.”

“Really?   _I_ think I’m cool.  I think I’m super, _mega_ cool.  I think I’m super-mega-awesome-fantastic-sexy-”

“ _You wear shoes with fucking buttons on them!!!!_ ”

**\--FLOOR 1 HALLWAY--**

The two of them had spent quite a bit of time going back and forth on different tools.  Aside from the blowtorch, Dai refused to budge on his chainsaw idea, Tatsuo wanted some kind of explode-y material, and both of them agreed that it would be super cool to shoot the chain off like how they did it in the movies.  There was absolutely no way that any of these items was contained in the storage room, but Landon asked her to write them down anyway, which, continuing her trend in the lobby, she did not do.

“We should be sure to check in on them often,” Landon murmured once they were back in the hallway.  “Ren, could you make a note of that? Tatsuo and Dai currently need the most supervision.”

Instead of doing that, Ren drew a wobbly line that cut a diagonal through the page.  The headache that had been at the fringes of her vision since she woke up had finally bashed in her skull, making it hard to pay even the slightest attention to what Landon was asking her.  He said something else; in an effort to look busy, she drew another line next to the first, but her concentration was so shot that they ended up intersecting in the center.

Next up was the stairwell, Landon was saying, and suddenly Ren knew she couldn’t handle the stairwell group, because it had both Gina and Minta in it and if she had to hear them yell at each other for one second more than she already had, she thought that her brain might just explode on the spot.  

She took a step back and turned in the direction of the bathrooms.  

“And - hm?”  Landon stopped, and Shiori, who had been gripping his sleeve, was yanked back with him.  “Ren, the stairwell is this way. Certainly you haven’t forgotten where it is already?”

Instead of responding, she took the bag of medicine - still not ingested - out of her pocket and jiggled it.  Shiori gasped. “Oh, Landon, she hasn’t taken the medicine yet! Her head must be in such bad shape.”

“I don’t see why that requires walking off.”

“You need to mix it in water, silly!” she huffed.  “Why don’t we take a break and go get a glass - uh, Ren?”

**\--FLOOR 1 GIRL’S BATHROOM--**

Yeah, Ren wasn’t gonna wait for them to finish deciding for her.  Not when two minutes of silence were within her grasp.

She had been worried that Sayaka might be hiding out in the bathroom, having been one of the lucky few students to not be assigned a job, but a quick check of the stalls revealed that Ren was, thankfully, alone.  It had only been a day, and already everything had a thin sheen of uncleanliness. It made sense, she supposed; from what she could gather, Yuuto had been too busy running around to have a repeat of the previous morning’s cleaning feats.

Even if she wasn’t using them for note-taking, the papers were her only real source of entertainment, so she stuck them carefully up above the paper towel dispenser (there was nothing worse than writing on wrinkled paper, after all).  After a moment of consideration, she removed her wrist brace and placed it up next to them. It was starting to smell a bit funky, but truthfully, she wasn’t really sure how to go about washing it; better to minimize the water damage before it really started growing mold.  Maybe they’d get out of here before that started to happen, she mused, opening the medicine bag and putting it under the running faucet. There wasn’t enough room left to make anything but a thick, lavender mush; probably not, she decided, mood soured even more as she tried to choke it down.  

 _Ding, dong, bing, bong!_  
  
“Goooood morning, everyone!” shouted Mononeko from over the fuzzy bathroom loudspeakers.  “The time is now seven A.M., and nighttime is officially over! It’s time to rise and shine!  Get ready to greet another beee-yutiful day!”

That meant that the cafeteria was finally open.  Ideally, Landon and Shiori would go and eat something, letting her spend the rest of the morning camped out beneath the sinks, but Ren wasn’t dumb.  There was no way that was happening. However, if they hadn’t bothered her yet, that meant she could probably risk another few minutes before they dragged her over to the stairwell.  God, she needed it. A few minutes without anyone talking to her sounded like a dream.

She shut the water off.

“Well well well!” came a shrill voice from behind her.  “What a coincidence, that we both happen to be using the bathroom at the exact same time on the exact same day.  It's almost like I wanted to come and find you! How is one of my favorite students doing today?”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i rewrote the opening twice. you got the angstier version, since i think it flows better. or, it will once i post the rewritten version tomorrow lol
> 
> I wrote the vast majority of that dai/tatsuo monstrosity in a day without edits so sorry if its p. bad
> 
> Next Time: Ren has a conversation with everyone's favorite overseer, plus some other stuff happens.


	12. Secretary's Scribblings, Part Two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ren's time as a secretary comes to an end.
> 
> TW(?): Gina and Minta very briefly argue about a book that has incest and pedophilia in its plot. Just wanted to mark that here just in case!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> no drawings cause i lost my stylus ;_;  
> gosh just TAKE this chapter i'm so sorry its late

“What do you want,” Ren asked.

She watched him through the mirror.  He was standing just slightly left of her impassive features, swaying back and forth – squeak creak – such that his head passed behind hers, then into visibility, then once again behind her own, like the rusty, off-beat thumping of her heart.  How had he gotten in? she wondered as his tail flicked in time.  Surely she would have heard him, or seen the stalls open.  Surely she would have felt the air of a hallway door swinging shut. 

The glaring of his sclera made her head pound.  She studied the sink, instead.

“Such a chilling reception!” Mononeko wailed, like the sound of gears grinding to a stop.  “If such cold responses weren’t already apart of your pre-established personality, I might even feel bad about it.  Can’t an overseer spend some quality time with the people he’s overseeing?  Don’t you think it’s important for the two of them to understand each other, so that the overseer can better care for the needs of the overseen?  Is it not better to oversee and overbear, than to have never over-ed at all?”

Ren stepped back from the sink. 

Still not looking back, she walked over to the dispenser and gathered up the papers she had shoved there.  They felt somehow important, now that she could feel the cold of Mononeko’s eyes upon her.  “Oooh, whatcha got there?” he asked.  “Can I have a little look-see?  Friends share everything with each other, after all!”

She put her wrist brace on, messed up with the Velcro, and shook too much to properly fix it.  “We’re not friends.”

“There you go again, being mean.  You know, I always pegged you as more of a kuudere type ‘cause of the whole ‘ice-queen’ schtick you have, but it seems you’re just a boring ol’ tsundere after all.  Are you gonna start walking me to school, now?  Beating me up when I embarrass you?  Hey, hey, call me an idiot!  Come on, do it!  Huh?  Where are you going?”

“Outside,” Ren muttered as she marched towards the door. 

She had thought, briefly, of convincing him to leave, but even if she did have the energy for it, she doubted anything she said would work.  As much as she didn’t want to go back to doing stuff, it was a much easier and preferable option than letting Mononeko continue to bug her.  Maybe if he followed her out, she could get him to start arguing with Landon or something, and then slip away again while they were both distracted.

“Huuh?  Don’t you wanna stick around and chat with your ol’ pal Mononeko?”

“No.”

The door –

        -was locked.

She rattled the handle again, just to be sure, and yes, it would not budge.  Behind her, the muted grinding of gears alerted her to Mononeko’s slow approach.  “Did you know that most of the doors in this building have remote locks?” he asked, tail swishing over the slick tile.  “Just push a button and wah-bam!  You’re not going anywhere.  I think it’s a wonderful feature.  It gives us plenty of time to sit down and have a relaxing chat!  You don’t mind sticking around to have one, do you?  I can’t think of a single reason why you might, considering how busy you’ve been all morning.”

Her fingers twitched against the handle, and she forced them back into stillness by her sides.  “What do you want to talk about,” she asked.

“You’re letting me choose the topic?  Aw, geez, I feel so special!” he gushed.  “I don’t wanna talk about anything special, though…  See, as your overseer, I feel like there’s a wall between us.  You students are out here, living your exciting lives, and I’m over in my office, grading papers and doing taxes… it’s heart-breaking, you know?  I feel like I just can’t get properly involved in any of your lives anymore.  Especially recently!  I woke up today, expecting it to be just a normal, average, boring day, but as usual, I completely underestimated your ability to turn the ordinary into the extraordinary!  Imagine my surprise, then, when I woke up and found out that – and, this is going to sound super unbelievable – that sometime during the night, you’d all decided to get together and, wow!  Collectively break the rules.”

Shit.

“I haven’t –“

“Up-up-up!” Mononeko interrupted. “Didn’t your mother ever teach you any manners?  There’s nothing ruder than refusing to look at someone trying to talk to you.”

Ren turned around. 

He was watching her with that same dead expression as the one he’d worn in the mirror, and for one jarring moment, she could almost picture the individual controlling them - devoid of any physical features, of course, but still there, still existing somewhere out in the world.  Mononeko was just a persona, she had to remind herself, and beneath that cartoony appearance was someone very real and very much dangerous.  This was someone who had pulled off sixteen different kidnappings before Ren could hear about them on the news.  He - she -they wanted them to kill each other, and certainly didn’t seem above killing the students themselves, if necessary. 

“I haven’t broken any rules,” she finished.

“Really?  Are you suure about that?” Mononeko asked.  “Because I’m not sure if I believe you or not.” He swung to the left and started pacing, back and forth, in that tottering gait of his.  “It must seem like quite the mystery to you, huh?  After all, you’re just an innocent child, stuck in the middle of a juvenile effort to undermine my authority and make a mockery of our lovely rules.  Whyever would I think that you had done something wrong, hmm?  Hmm, hmm, hmm..” He tapped a paw against his chin.  “I just can’t figure it out.  Maybe we should call in the Ultimate Conspiracy Theorist, ‘cause we’ve got a real mystery on our hands!  Or, I could call in Mr. Ultimate Linguist, since he’s clearly the ringleader of this whole operation.  His sister might also have some juicy information.  But, that’s sooo dumb, right?  Why would I wanna go through all that effort, when I’ve already got an inside source on this insurrection right beside me? _Right_ , Ms. Note-Taker?”

Ren decided to do what she always did when people started throwing accusations at her.

“I don't know what you're talking about,” she lied.

“Haaah?  You mean you haven't been taking notes for the past hour?  You weren’t paying attention, even as the ringleaders of all this horrible, disrespectful, rule-breaking garbage were dragging you around?  What was all that stuff you were writing, then?”

“Calligraphy stuff.”  Which, honestly, without the proper tools for it, wasn't calligraphy at all.  Just handwriting practice and a yearning for a real brush.  

“Reaaally?  If that's the case, then I wanna see what the Ultimate Calligrapher has been crafting all morning!  Surely she'd allow her overseer just a little peek, don'tcha think?”

“It's private.”

His claws shot out, piercing a thick hole through the corners of the paper stack and just barely missing her fingers.  In her shock, she released them, watching as they slowly slid down those animalistic blades.  “Why are you so eager for me not to see these, huh?” he asked as he dangled them in front of his face.  “Could it be you’re keeping some kind of… _scandalous secret_ on them?!”

For once, her laziness had paid off, she supposed as he shuffled through the papers.  Aside from an unflattering drawing of Landon which, thanks to her poor drawing skills, could hardly be identified as such, she hadn't written down a single thing that matched up to what the other students had been doing.  

“All of these papers are very clearly labelled,” Mononeko said, skimming through them.  “Do you mean you just wrote down a bunch of random student names for funsies?  Just for a laugh?  Just _because?_ ”

He spat the last part.  “Landon did that.”

“And why do you think he wrote them down and gave them to you, haaahhhmmm?”

“I don’t know.  I wasn’t paying attention.”

He rifled through the papers.  “What are all these weird drawings then, hmm?”

Right.  Those.

“Suzume gave them to me.  Ask her.”

“And _why_ did she give them to you?”

“I don’t know.  I usually tune her out.”

“So you don’t have any idea what any of it is?  Not the single, slightest little inkling of an idea?”

“Nope.”

She was used to this kind of back-and-forth, so even as Mononeko’s interrogation faded into white noise, she didn’t stumble in her denial.  Eventually, though, it became too much for him, and he _exploded._  “ _Don’t know, you guess_ \- for a futurely amazing student at Hope’s Peak Academy, you sure don’t have a whole lot of smarts up there, huh?  You would think that a student with even the most obscure and questionable talent would have an explanation as to why all of my lovely little bastards have decided to blatantly disrespect me and the lovely rules for this lovely establishment.  Why, I might even say it’s _impossible_ for a student to not have one!  And if you don’t have any idea what’s going on… then what does that make you?”  He stepped closer.  “A faker?  A trespasser?  Someone who clearly doesn’t belong here?”

Ren -

\- couldn’t _think_ -

“I have a concussion.  It’s hard to concentrate.”  Struck by inspiration, she reached into her pocket and held up the now-crusty plastic bag.  To disguise her tremor, she shook it back and forth.  “I just took medicine for it.”

He continued to stare.

She shoved the bag back into her pocket and kept it there, other hand curling back upon the door handle for support.  Ren’s success here depended entirely on how closely Mononeko had been watching her actions for the past hour and a half.  Had she responded to anyone?  Said anything that showed she was aware of the rule-breaking going on?  People always thought she didn’t pay attention, but that was after seeing her in person.  She had no idea how it would transfer to a grainy security camera.  

She hadn’t done anything, that first day they had been trapped here, having slept most of the time and been unenthused for the rest of it.  Maybe that was what Mononeko remembered as he took a step back and handed her back the papers.  She almost expected him to snatch them back at the last second and shred them, but they slid off his claws with little resistance.

“Thanks,” she said.  

“Absolutely no problem, best friend!”  Ren didn’t dare correct him, this time, but some of her displeasure must have leaked out anyway.  “Whaaaat, don’t you think we’re bee-eff-effs, now?  After that wondrously uninformative heart-to-heart?  Haven’t you ever had a friend, before?  No, no, don’t answer that – I couldn’t bear to hear whatever sad and lonely thing might come spilling out!”

He spun around, paws crossed behind his back. 

“Weeeeeelll, I dunno about you, but I’ve got lots of stuff to catch up on!  I’ll leave you alone now.  You can consider yourself officially dismissed.”  He took two jerky steps and stopped, tilting his head back.  “Oh!  And remeeeembeeer!”  A single claw slipped out of his paw, and he brought it up to his ever-smiling mouth.  “We’re friends now, right?  And friends don’t tell each other’s secrets.  That’s like talking behind their back!”

_Don’t tell people we had this conversation._

Her throat felt sticky from the medicine and something she couldn’t quite identify.  She nodded; the door unlocked; and Ren, tripping from the sudden lack of support, shoved the door open and finally slipped out of that suffocating room.

**\--FLOOR 01--**

It felt, briefly, like all her limbs came tumbling out of their sockets, and then she was back to normal, slouched and numb and with an abnormal shortness that lingered in her breaths.  She was fine.  She was _fine._  Nothing had even happened, anyway.  Mononeko had just been his usual annoying self.  Ren had suffered him.  Now she was fine, minus the headache she still had and would very soon get worse, once she trudged back down the hallway and put an argument-filled end to her peace.

When she got back to where she had split off, she found that the twins hadn’t actually waited for her - or, Landon hadn’t, at least.  Shiori probably hadn’t either, even though she was out in the hallway.  She was sitting next to the stairwell doors, ankles crossed over each other as she played with the loose ends of her currently unbraided hair.  At Ren’s approach, she startled, but the panic in her movement quickly faded back to her original dullness.

“Oh, Ren, you’re finally here,” she said.  “What took you so long?”

Standing was starting to feel a little hard, so Ren let herself slide down the wall beside her.  “I was taking a break,” she answered.  It was a half-truth, at least.  “Aren’t you supposed to be inside?”

Shiori didn’t respond at first.  She tangled her hair back up and let it fall loose again.  “Oh, I just couldn’t stand to see Landon putzing about in there, making an even bigger fool of himself than he already is.  Gina and Minta keep getting into these dreadful arguments about literature, and he just keeps enabling them.  Honestly, taking a neutral stance won’t stop them from fighting!  You’re just making them _angrier!_ ”

As if to prove this point, a particularly shrill shout sounded from behind the doors.  Shiori curled her fingers through her bangs and tugged at them.

“Hey,” Ren said when she didn’t stop tugging.

“Sorry,” Shiori murmured, and returned to the ritual of braiding her hair.  “You know, you haven’t said anything all morning.  What do you think about all this?”

“What, like… the investigation stuff?”

“Yes, exactly!  All this nonsense about trying to get onto one of the other floors.  What do you think?”

“Uh…”  There were a lot of things that Ren did and didn’t think.  Her mind flitted back to the bathroom and she shoved it away, struggling to latch onto a more comfortable thought.  “Landon seems like a decent leader,” she finally settled on, and was surprised to find that she meant it.  He wasn’t super great or anything, of course, and if him nearly getting beat up was anything to go off of, he certainly couldn’t read a mood, but he’d gotten everyone organized when no one had wanted to do anything.  Maybe that was all it really took to be decent.

“He is!” Shiori exclaimed.  “Oh, he's such a good leader.  He’s so smart, too.  When I was twelve and stuck reading outdated textbooks, he was already out in college.  It's where I got his sweater, did you know that?  It has the insignia of the University of Basque on it.  That's where he grew up.”  

Ren choked.  “He’s in college?”

“Ah, he was!  Although, I suppose he still is?  He’s working on his doctorate right now in Japanese Linguistics.  Dr. Ybarra… it’s quite a title.  Most people get surprised when they meet him, because they usually don’t him to be as well-adjusted as he is.  That’s the trade-off, right?  If you’re a genius, then you’re socially impaired.  But he really is good with social stuff.  I always thought it made sense, considering what he's interested in.   You have to know how to communicate if you want to know a language, after all!  And Landon does know a lot of them.  Honestly, sometimes it’s a little...”  She trailed off, suddenly looking embarrassed.  “Ah, nevermind.  It’s nothing important.”

“Tatsuo almost beat him up,” Ren said.  Then, because she was feeling a bit mean: “He doesn’t listen to you.”

“Well, that’s Tatsuo.  I don’t think he’s the most well-adjusted of individuals.  And Landon’s - well - that is true, he doesn’t listen to me, but that’s - ”  Shiori fidgeted.  “It's not that he's arrogant or unwilling to listen to criticism, but I think that anyone who grows up in an environment where they're only ever praised and called a genius would come to believe they're always right.  Don't you think?”

“I guess.”  It was what Shiori wanted her to say, at least.

“Exactly.  And, well, the truth is that he _is_ right, most of the time.  He’s always proving people wrong.  Talking with him can be a bit difficult, sometimes, because of that.”

“He was wrong about the filing cabinets,” Ren pointed out.

“Ha!  You’re right!”  She snorted.  “He was so embarrassed, did you know that?   _Eito_ had to tell me!”   

“He was scared you’d be mad.”

“Ohh, he better have been, Mr. ‘Make His Sister Sit on the Cold Hard Floor All Day.’  He didn’t even apologize to me, afterwards!  The nerve of him, sometimes.”  She threw out her hands.  “And now look at him!  Dragging everyone else around on this - this dumb, dangerous... _thing._ It’s ridiculous!  This isn’t an academic argument, you know!  If Mononeko doesn’t agree with you - which he _won’t_ \- then that’ll mean… he’ll… it’d be...”

Her fumbling words coincided with the loss of her anger.  She drew back into herself, hands back to digging through her messy hair.

“Everything’s so crazy,” Shiori blurted.  “I don’t even remember being kidnapped, did you know that?  Landon told me that I had fallen asleep on the park bench when it happened.  And then, there was all this talk about killing each other and being trapped here, and now with Landon… none of it feels real, does it?  It feels like I’m having a bad dream.”

“It’s not a dream,” Ren said, even though she knew it wasn’t what Shiori was talking about.  She had thought it was just her usual abnormality, going through the past few days with fear behind the same thick glass the rest of her emotions were felt through, but maybe that was the dream-like quality Shiori now fretted over.  “I can read stuff.  You can’t do that in dreams.”  

Shiori looked at her hands, currently poised to undo her braid, and brought them together on top of her lap.  She fiddled with them long enough for Ren to know she'd definitely said the wrong thing.  “Ah… I suppose you’re right,” she said, and smiled in a way that only made her look more tired.  “It’s just… Mononeko almost killed Minta, and you said he almost attacked Izumi, and now Landon’s running around trying to provoke him and, you know, I'm an herbalist, but I've never treated anything serious, and I just don't - ”  She unthreaded and then re-threaded her fingers.  “Do you think I’m just... worrying about nothing?”

Shiori’s face was blocked by the thickness of her hair.  Ren opened her mouth to say one thing - and then thought about her conversation with Mononeko, that razor-edged hush, and then she thought about her childhood, her still-lingering headache, how the easiest way to get out of a conversation was to just say what the instigator wants to hear.

“Probably,” Ren lied.  It worked well enough.

**THE STAIRWELL**

**-Minta, Gina, Eito**

As Shiori had warned, they were arguing about literature - and not just any literature, but _old_ literature.  Eugh.

“Minta thinks that if Gina were smart, she would recognize the separation between an author and their work,” Minta was saying.  She had her hands on her hips and had bent just enough that she cast a shadow on the disgruntled poet beneath her, but really, she shouldn’t have been doing it at all because she _wasn’t even supposed to be in the stairwell_.  After her embarrassing attempts to become leader, she had skulked the rest of the meeting, refusing all volunteer opportunities from beneath her cape right up until they had been about to disperse.   _Why has Minta not been given something to do?_ she had complained, and then forced herself into the stairwell group before Landon could even tell he who was in it.  Well, she was paying for it now, Ren guessed as the critic barrelled on.  “Nanaki clearly uses imagery of a Buddhist hell when depicting his protagonist's baser desires.”

“I can’t speak for this particular one, but I know some of his other works,” Landon, who was standing between them, said.  “His use of language to denote the familial status of his characters is nothing short of brilliant.”

“Yes!  Does Gina see, now?  Even Landon understands the genius of this work.”

Gina pulled at the edges of her short hair.  “It’s _literally_ about a guy that wants to _have sex with his daughter!_ ”

Ren had no idea what this book was called, but apparently, it featured no less than three overly-gratuitous descriptions of a naked minor, complicated observations on morality, duty, and the decline of the traditional Japanese household, and prose that was good enough to be considered historically significant.  Boring stuff.  Landon seemed pretty well-embroiled in the discussion, so she drifted over to Shiori instead, who was tiredly asking the final member of the group as to what, exactly, they were arguing over now.

“It’s some old book,” Eito supplied.  “I don’t really read, so I’ve never heard of it, but Minta thinks that it’s good because it’s well written, and Gina thinks it’s bad because the story itself is bad.  Landon agrees with both points.”

“It sounds quite intense.”

“At least they aren’t arguing about young adult fiction anymore.  I think you left right before it, but that got pretty loud.  Minta called this one series boring and Gina almost threw down with her cane.”  He inhaled a box of raisins.  “They haven’t got much done.”

“What about you?” Shiori asked, looking slightly pained as she did so.  “You seem to have, um, been busy, despite the arguing…”

Looking at the area surrounding Eito, this was a reasonable thing to speculate.  With the argument taking up most of the stairwell space, he had retreated over to the corner with a now-faceless card reader with a half-emptied box of miscellaneous items beside him.  “I tried to figure out the card reader a bit, but then I took I break.  I’ve been timing how long the current argument has been going on.”  He tapped his watch.  “Four minutes.  Ten more and it’ll be a record.”

“Oh, do you know things about wiring and such?”

“Nah.”

He finished another box of raisins and chucked it through the bars.  There was a muted thump, followed by the sound of something skittering.

“Anyway,” he continued, “I want to look at something on the bars over there, so if you’ll cover your ears…”

“Hm?”

He fished around the box and pulled out a white kitchen timer.  “It’s pretty loud,” he said as he set it.  

“Is it really?  I thought digital ones like that were supposed to be -”

**_BRRRRRRRIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII-_ **

Shiori shouted something.  Ren could not hear it, because her brain was too busy melting out of her ears.  

**_IIIIIIIIIIIIIiiiiinnnnnnn_ ** _nnnnnngksk-_

There was a grating crash as the timer hit the bottom of the stairwell, followed by the shrill echoing of its continued ring.  Minta, her arm outstretched from the throw, glared into the darkness, then snapped her head around and focused on Eito.  “ _You,_ ” she hissed.

“What was that?!” Gina demanded, trembling as she took her hands off of her ears.  

“A kitchen timer,” Eito said.

“It sounded…”  Her knuckles went white around her cane.  “It sounded like an alarm.  What the hell kind of kitchen timer - _sounds_ like that?”

“I got Suzume to make it louder.  It only took her a minute.  She’s not bad with electric stuff, apparently.”

“Eito, you can’t use that,” Landon scolded.  “You scared Gina half to death.  That’s not even mentioning the damage loud noises do to your ears...”

“And,” Minta interjected, “more importantly, Minta found it to be horrendously annoying.  Minta would very much like to know why Eito thought it was appropriate to set that horrible thing off.”

Eito fiddled with his watch.  “You guys were too busy arguing to move.  There’s some stuff I want to look at over there.”

“And Eito did not think it was appropriate to simply ask Minta to move, if he was so impatient?”

“I mean… I did about an hour ago, and all you did was try to drag me into your argument.  So no, I guess not.”

The alarm suddenly stopped.  Eito’s eyes sharpened.  

“It sounds like it broke,” Shiori said, biting her lip.

“It should have stopped when it hit the ground, then,” Eito muttered, motioning a still-angry Minta to the side to get a better view of the dark below.  He shoved his wrist between the bars and promptly withdrew it, cursing.  “Do any of you have a flashlight?”

“Even if Minta did, she would not share it with the likes of _you_.”

“We could get one for you from the storage room,” Landon offered.  

“No, I need it -”  He paused.  “It’s probably too late now, but sure.”  Then, dropping his voice: “I need another timer, too.  I think there’s one more like this.  It’s white.”  

“Right.  Ren, could you write that down?  Ren?”

“I think she’s still a little frazzled,” Shiori murmured.

“I’m fine,” Ren snapped, and drew a vague approximation of a character that was very straight and nice-looking and not at all unreadable.  “There.  I wrote it down.”

While she fought to keep the paper away from an unconvinced Landon, Eito rummaged around his box and produced from it a flat metallic object with a grip at the end.  “I’m going to go go look at stuff now,” he said.  “If you’ll excuse me.”

He proceeded to push past the group.  “Where does Eito think he is going, hmm??” Minta demanded.

“Like, two feet away.”

“ _You-_ ”

Landon gripped the edge of Minta’s cape.  She flailed back.  

“That’s enough arguing,” Landon said.  “That goes for both you _and_ Gina, by the way.  You _do_ want to get things done today, don’t you?  You can only do that if you actually investigate.”

“That’s what I wanted to do, and then _she_ said I was doing everything wrong!” Gina snapped.  

“That was because she was,” Minta sniffed, wrenching her cape from Landon’s grasp.  “Minta understands that Landon is a poor leader, but surely even he is in agreement that Gina should be removed from this group?  Not only is she not able to do things correctly, she is blind.”

“I’m sorry, _what_ was that?”

“Minta was just saying that Gina is blind, and therefore not fit for searching around the stairwell.  Minta would think that one would need eyes to search, yes?”

A dark and splotchy red crept up the sides of Gina’s neck.  “Yeah?  And how much have you found out, you tacky two-eyed -”

“That’s enough, Gina,” Landon said.

“She started it!” she spat.

“I know, and you continued it.”  He turned to Minta.  “Minta, your comments about Gina’s blindness are completely uncalled for.  You should apologize.”

Minta reared back, as though struck.  “ _Minta_ should apologize?!  When Gina has been the one holding this investigation back?  Minta _refuses!_ ”

“I think that your refusal to allow Gina to participate is wasting more time than her supposedly poor participation.  Apologize.”

“ _No!!!_ ”

**\--ooo--**

Minta did not apologize.  Neither did Gina, after making some particularly nasty insinuations about Minta partway through the process.  

Surprisingly, it was Shiori who sorted out the situation.  Using some of the tape that Eito had, she cut out a thick line across the stairwell, put Gina on the side where Eito was, and ordered Minta onto the other.  Minta thought the separation was degrading.  Gina complained she didn’t even know where the line was.  Both of them went along with it, anyway, and aside from some bitter muttering, when Ren finally left the stairwell, they were the quietest they had been all morning.

**\--FLOOR 01 HALLWAY--**

Ren trailed behind the twins as they talked.

“Maybe we should find a curtain or something in the storage room?  That might also discourage interaction between them.  What do you two think?”

“I personally think the best way to make them get along is to find some point of discussion that the two of them can discuss civilly.”

“Oh, like _that_ was working out well before.”

“ _I_ thought it was.”

“Landon.”

“They were certainly less nasty.”

“Not everyone is going to get along with each other, Landon.”

“Well, I would think they wouldn’t, if other people weren’t around to help them along.”

“You are _impossible_ , sometimes.”

“Look, we’ll find a blanket or curtain and bring it with us, okay?  Ren, could you write that down, along with everything else we talked about?”

Ren... did not do that.

**STORAGE ROOM**

**-Amelie, Yuuto, Akira, Izumi**

Landon peeked around the corner as the three of them walked in.  “How are you all getting set up in - oh!”

Shiori jumped away, pulling Landon along with her, and then tugged at the edge of Ren’s blouse to bring her to the ground as well.  An instant later a candle shattered against the wall, followed by a volley of nicely painted plates.

“Ah - Izumi, not those!” Yuuto cried out, almost tripping in his haste to get to them.  He held out his hand to the group of them on the floor.  “I’m so sorry.  Are you all alright?”

The storage room, Ren learned once he had helped them all up, had reverted back to the mess it was only a few days ago.  In the back area, right around where the three of them were crouched down, was a steadily-growing assortment of broken ceramic and miscellaneous items, dented forks and wooden pieces and the two powdery halves of what had just been thrown at them.  Yuuto had been flitting about, taking items off of shelves and placing them down in an organized manner in the center of the room, although he paused his search to storm over to Izumi, who was emptying the shelves in a far more violent manner than he: about half the stuff she encountered was tossed carelessly to the floor, whereas the other half met the same fate as the ceramic cup.  Amelie was perched on top of a large shop vac, flipping through what looked to be some kind of old fashion magazine.  Akira was nowhere that Ren could see.

“Izumi!” Yuuto snapped, putting down the box of bandages he'd been carrying.  “You can't just throw things so carelessly like that!  Don't you think it's dangerous to toss around heavy items when there are other people nearby?”

“Ain't hitting the shelves,” she said, and flung the teacup box over her shoulder, landing neatly at the end of the aisle by Ren’s foot.  “Not my fault they’re not paying attention.”

“Don’t be so obtuse,” he snapped, and then coughed, darting his eyes away.  “Ah, what I mean is… well, it’s certainly true that they should be watching where they’re going, but I would personally call it a mutual relationship of responsibility.  If they’re watching where you’re throwing things, don’t you think it’s polite to pay attention and not carelessly toss things where people could be?  You, ah, certainly managed to almost -”

“I knew they were there,” Izumi interrupted.  “They ducked, didn’t they?”

Yuuto stared at her, face frozen in a nervous, disbelieving smile.  Shiori decided to pick up the silence.  “Oh, Izumi!  It’s alright.  I thought it was a little - oh!”  She ducked out of the way of a toilet paper roll.  “It was a little bit exciting.  Look at that, Landon!  It unfurled!  I’ve always wanted to - what do they call it in those halloween movies?  To teepee things.”

“Shiori, you can’t just cover the storage room in toilet paper,” Landon huffed.  His glasses, misaligned from his fall, were quickly put back into alignment on his face.  It was almost unnerving, how efficient he was at making himself neat again.  “Neither can you, Izumi.  You’re supposed to be getting out tools and other useful things.”

“I told ya, there ain’t nothin’ useful here,” Izumi growled.  “Don’t see why I gotta do stuff here when I could be doin’ other stuff.”  

“I must agree,” Amelie, still not looking up from the magazine, said.  “I’m afraid that I’m a bit useless here, for I've no experience with any kinds of tools.  I wouldn’t know what to look for, if anyone were to ask anything of me.”

“You said you worked on a farm,” Ren pointed out.  She was, like, 90% sure that tools were involved in the whole farming process.

Yuuto blinked.  “H-huh?  You did?”

“Did I?” Amelie asked, tapping a finger against her bottom lip.  “I don’t recall ever saying that, but it’s always possible that a complete stranger would remember my history better than I.  Although, it seems more likely to me that you were perhaps equating the stereotype of an impoverished family of subsistence farmers, forcing even their youngest to plow, with my own.”  She winked.  “I went to a boarding school.”  

On the opposite side of the room, a door slammed open.

“I got a bunch of forks and knives and other kitchen-y stuff!!” Akira called, skipping his way into the storage room.  “Plus some celery sticks, in case anyone was hungry •̀.̫•́✧”  

Apparently, bland vegetables were all it took to prevent Izumi from trashing the rest of the shelf; she abandoned the paper products as soon as Akira came into view, snatching the sticks and almost swallowing their bag in her animalistic hunger.  

“ ⊙▽⊙ “ Akira looked back and forth between her and the new arrivals.  “Ehm… um… Oh, hi, Ren - I’ll - I’ll go get more! •̀.̫•́✧” After some fumbling, he dropped the kitchen supplies on the ground and ran back the way he came.

Amelie flipped through another page.  “I wouldn’t have guessed you ate vegetables,” she said lightly.  “Only things like bird bones and animal fat.”

“Bones taste bad,” Izumi muttered, sucking the juice off her fingers.  “Fat’s useless when I’m not doin’ shit.”

“You are ‘doing shit,’” Landon said, his use of a swear almost giving Ren an aneurysm.  “You’re gathering items so that you can more smoothly find and build tools for the other students.”

“Already know where everything is.  Why do I gotta put it somewhere else?”

“It’s never useless to be organized!”  Yuuto said, finishing his rearrangement of a box of various strings and cords.  “I find that I’m much more relaxed when everything’s in its place.  Isn’t it also much easier to do things when the items you need are accessible, Izumi?  I would think that, with your hobby, it would be important to have everything organized and on hand.  Like, um… for bear attacks!  And natural disaster events!”

“What in the hell are you talking about…?”

“You know.”  He waved his hands in a vague circular shape.  “Survival events?”

Izumi squinted at him.

“Right,” he whimpered, and retreated back into the other aisle.

“I agree with Yuuto,” Landon said.  “It truly is much more efficient to have all your items in one place, rather than scattered across the storage room.  To demonstrate this, say I were to tell you to get me a - Ren, what was it that Eito needed?  A flashlight?”

Ren hadn’t written it down, but luckily, she still remembered him mentioning it.  “I guess.”

“Right.  I ask you, Izumi, to please go get me a flashlight.”

Landon’s question had been hypothetical, but Izumi clearly didn’t take it as such.  Before he had even finished the request, she was already jumping up, the shelf behind her swaying back and forth - but, miraculously, not losing a single item - as she scrabbled over it.  A horrified shout from Yuuto sounded somewhere off in the corner.  Only a second later, an object flew overhead, followed shortly by Izumi as she vaulted back over the top of the shelf.  “Ha!  I got it!” she snarled, eyes wild.  “How was that?”  

“That was very fast,” Landon muttered, eyeing the flashlight he had just barely managed to catch.

Shiori clapped her hands.  “Oh, oh, do it again! Could you get a… well, I’d ask for food, but Akira said he was going to bring some, wasn’t he?  Oh!  Could you get us some plates?”

Izumi looked almost disappointed as she reached behind her and handed Shiori a stack of paper plates.

“...I’m sorry, I didn’t realize they were right behind you.  Oh!  Maybe instead -”

“Shiori, that’s really enough,” Landon interrupted.  “Just the one request was enough.”

His sister stuck out her tongue.  “Honestly, Landon, no one’s getting hurt.  We’re just having a little fun.”  

“It’s very amusing,” Amelie commented, flipping through another page.

“I know that, but I would appreciate it if you could save the fun for after I finished making my point.”  He sighed and turned towards Izumi.  “Although, I will concede that you were, indeed, very fast.”

“Ha!  I fuckin’ told ya!  Only fun thing there is to do 'round here is climb on shit.  

“Well, you'll be able to do a bit more climbing now, if that helps to curb your boredom.  Although, honestly, why that’s even  an issue…”  He shook his  head.  “Anyway, we actually have a list of tools there we'd like you to get for us.”

“You _what?_ ” Izumi roared.  “The hell took you so long to say it?!”

“Oh, honestly, there's no need  to shout.  First we have Suzume’s requests - Ren, if you would?”  Ren handed him the lists, and in turn, he handed them to Izumi, who snatched them from him the moment he turned back.  “She drew out pictures, so it should be simple enough to find.”

“The hell are these?” Izumi muttered, flipping the papers over as though it would provide an additional explanation for the obscure tools.

“They’re tools that Suzume needs.  After that, there’s  - ah, Ren, if you could give me a list of what Dai and Tatsuo needed?”  Ren didn’t do anything.  “Ren, the list.”

“I don’t have it.”

“What do you mean, you don’t have it?  Did you lose it?”

“I didn’t write it down.”

Landon snatched the papers from her hand.  Shiori leaned over to look.  “Oh, your handwriting is so nice!” she said.  

“You - ” Landon flipped up his glasses and leaned in closer.  “All you've done is write the word ‘lamp post’ over and over again.  And - is that _me_?”

Huh.  So it had been recognizable, after all.  “Oh, oh!  Can you write my name as well?  Ah, the first character is the one for ‘poem’, and -”

“Shiori, she is not going to write your name,” Landon said, drawing the paper closer, as though worried Ren would snatch it back.  He opened his mouth, eyes darting back and forth between her and the other students - Amelie looking as though she were trying not to laugh, Yuuto peeking around the shelving with a disapproving glance - and then ushered the three of them over to the door.  When he spoke again, it was in a hushed voice.  “Ren, when I asked you to write things down, it was with the hope that you would take this seriously.  The other students need these items, and now that we don’t know what they are, we have to waste time going back and asking them.  You understand that what we’re doing _is_ very serious, correct?”

He didn’t say anything else, and Ren realized that he was waiting for a response.  She shrugged.  “I didn’t want to.”

“You didn’t - what?”

“I don't want to take any stupid notes.”

“Well, if you don't want to then _why_ did you agree to do this in the first place?”

Ren stared at him.  She took the pen and placed it on top of the stack of papers, but he didn't react fast enough to catch it before it clattered to the ground.  Once it had, she turned toward the door.

“Ren - where, exactly, do you think you’re going?”

“To go sleep.”

“You can’t do that.  You’re supposed to take notes.”

“I resign.”  Landon was still in disbelief, so Ren snatched one of the emptier pages out of his hand and scribbled on it.  She handed back to him that same statement, now in black, blocky lettering, and proceeded by her signature.  “Can I go now?”

“I’m _sorry?_ ”

“Oh, Landon, you might as well let her,” Shiori interjected.  “She said she barely slept at all last night, remember?  It can’t be good to make her keep working, especially when you factor in her recovery from her concussion.”

“She’s clearly fine if she can willingly shirk her work like this.”

“Well, I am the medical professional, here, and I see Ren’s lack of notes as a symptoms of sleep deprivation and an inability to concentrate due to lasting damage from her concussion.  With this evidence, I believe that Ren is medically unfit to perform her secretarial duties.  I am hereby giving her… a doctor’s note!”

Landon watched in disbelief as Shiori took Ren’s letter of resignation and added her own signature to it.  “Shiori, you can’t be serious.  Who’s going to take notes if she leaves, then?  There’s an absence of a job.”

“Oh, honestly, Landon, I’ll do it if you’re that concerned about it.”

“You very clearly told me you wanted nothing to do with, as you put it, all this ‘death-seeking nonsense.’”

“It’s better than letting you do it on your own, you dummy!”

“Uh,” Ren said.  

“Right, right!”  Shiori held out her hand, and Ren gave her the papers before Landon could protest.  “Now, as your new second-in-command, I insist that we get more paper and a new pen.  Izumi!  Can you get me some?”

“There isn’t a power hierarchy - Izumi, would you _please_ be careful?”

With how upbeat Shiori was acting, it was understandable that Landon would miss the nervous way her fingers dug into the slowly-crumpling paper.  Ren noticed, but didn’t bother to comment.  Shiori could deal with her own problems, she thought as she slipped back out into the hallway.  At the moment, she had far more important things to think about.

Like sleeping.  

_God,_ she was so tired.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> that mononeko and shiori scene gave me heartburn, the mononeko scene especially. i fully rewrote it like three times i think before i gave up. anyway i'm sorry if the pacing is weird in this chapter!!! i just wanted to get it out as soon as i finally finished it.
> 
> cut text from the mononeko scene:   
> https://gertritude.tumblr.com/post/182018135572/cut-text-from-chapter-12
> 
> next chapter will be up either before or in the week of 1/20-1/26. we'll see, since even though it'll be much easier to write than the other one (i actually only have about a third left of it to finish!), i just started college again and am gonna be pretty busy this semester ;_; 
> 
> Next time: Ren gets a history lesson and tries to cook.


	13. Dinner Prep

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ren wants to eat but gets bothered instead. Chapter includes: two dumb boys, cooking shenanigans, and a free time event with the trendy teen icon that all of Japan loves! 
> 
> TW: someone throws up. Not described in detail.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter is brought to you by: ren being fed up
> 
> there arent any pictures since I still don't have a stylus :(

**\--JANITOR’S QUARTERS--**

Ren woke up.

This was immediately a problem, because she should have been asleep.  She had left the storage room to do just that, after all, and it seemed like only seconds ago she had staggered in from the hallway and collapsed onto her now-familiar bed, but when she forced herself to look up at the clock, she could blearily make out that she had slept through the morning and well into the early afternoon. 

Her head was pounding.  Her mouth was so dry her teeth hurt.  She just wanted… to………

A bang reverberated through the room, jarring Ren from her doze.  Now fully awake, she realized just how loud it was in actually was in the room.  The area around her was lifeless, but from the crack in the bathroom door there came sharp murmuring and the click-clacketing of heels, as well as the sounds of things slamming and shattering, all coalescing into a big ball of noise that  _ would not let her sleep _ .

Another crash resounded from the bathroom.

Oh, absolutely  _ not _ .

**\--PERSONAL BATHROOM--**

“Literally what are you doing,” Ren asked.

The current state of the bathroom reminded Ren of – something, whatever, she didn’t really care.  The point was, it was a mess. The cabinet was open and almost empty. There were boxes and bottles all over the floor.   _ Minta _ was there, shaking a thing of pills next to her ear, grumbling, throwing it to the ground, and giving it a frustrated kick towards the doorway.  Ren kicked it right back. “Hm! It seems that Ren has finally woken up,” Minta snapped, not bothering to look up from the clutter she was making.  “Minta was wondering when Ren would offer to help her. She is currently searching-“

“I don’t care.  Shut up.”

Minta whipped her head around.  “ _ Excuse _ me?!  What horrible thing is it that Ren has just said?!”

“I’m trying to sleep.  You’re being annoying.”

Minta crushed the box of detergent she was holding, bent down, and got directly into Ren’s personal space.  “ _ Minta _ is being annoying?” she seethed.  “Minta thinks that Ren is the annoying one, barging in here without permission and slandering Minta and complaining about things that are not worth complaining about.  Minta has been suffering all morning, but of course, the pain that she feels is lesser to that of Ren’s. Oh, how sad, how awful it is, that Ren is feeling bad because she has not gotten enough sleep.  Oh, how lonely it must be, being the only bad-feeling person in this  _ entire horrible place!!! _ ”

Her sunglasses fell down onto her face.  She jerked them back up.

“When Minta is mad,” she said through gritted teeth, “Minta likes to rinse out her anger in a bath.  There are no bathtubs here, so she has decided a shower will do. But do you know what is terrible about this?  What is hurting Minta so?” She did not wait for Ren to respond. “There is no soap in the cabinets! No shampoo in the drawers!  Would Ren tell Minta, please, as to how she is to shower when she cannot properly wash herself?”

“The storage room has soap.  Go bother someone there.”

Minta slammed the box down onto the sink.  “It does not!” she howled. “It does not, because that horrible magician has magicked it all away!  Minta has checked and double-checked, and what has she seen? Not a single bottle of shampoo! No mousse!”  She reached into her boot and pulled from it a square of paper. “Just this – horribleness!”

The paper was covered in both elegant creases and jagged holes from where it had been gripped too hard.  Ren uncrumpled it as best she could and was met with a crude picture of a blocky stick figure - blocky because the artist had seen fit to draw abs on it - surrounded by bubbles and holding what might have been a luffa.  It winked beneath a loopy set of curls. “Bar soap in use,” she read aloud. “Winky face.”

“There are multiple of these,” Minta seethed, handing more and more over to Ren.  She had to admit, when Tatsuo committed to something, he apparently committed hard.  All the papers - of which there were at least two dozen - depicted similar drawings for every cleanliness product Ren had ever heard of, and then multiple more for ones she hadn’t.  ‘Conditioner in use,’ said the stick figure with beautiful hair. ‘Moisturization in process,’ said the one with shiny-balloon skin. Some were even specific down to the brand. “Minta has looked and looked but she cannot figure out where he is hiding them.  Minta thinks it must be in this room.”

Ren thought that hiding it in the bathroom was kind of obvious, but maybe Tatsuo was just that kind of person.  “Just use hand sanitizer or dish soap or something.”

Well, now she definitely looked feral.  Good going, Ren. Antagonize the person that’s got, like, two feet on you and heels that could puncture a lung.  “What does Ren think she is suggesting, hm?! Minta cannot just wash herself with _dish_ _soap._  Minta, unlike the rest of her classmates, is not an _animal._ Minta is aware that the others lack the very civilized life that she has, but she still does not understand how they can be so blasé about these horrible, filthy conditions.  It has only been two days and already Minta wishes to leave her own skin. And her hair…” She tugged at her buns, almost to the point of them coming undone. “Minta’s hair is just awful.  It has no swirl! No puff! Not only is Minta unable to use her products, there are simply no curling brushes for her to use. How is Minta supposed to present herself in front of her peers if her hair is like a rat’s nest?  Minta worries that if this goes on much longer, she will degrade to the level of her classmates and be unable to remember the correct way to wash herself. She has a very delicate routine, after all! Minta is sure that it is difficult for a commoner such as Ren to understand, but she will attempt to describe it anyway, in hopes that perhaps one of Minta’s practices will rub off upon her.” 

Ren realized far too late what was about to happen. 

It was with a vague sort of agony that she sat through Minta’s ensuing monologue.  First she spent far too much time detailing her very intense hair care routine, and then her lecturing evolved into a lengthy description of her skin care routine, which eventually fell onto the topic of her clothes.  Ren tried to leave multiple times during the process. She was ultimately unsuccessful.

“These are not Minta’s favorite boots, although she likes the shoelaces - are you even listening???”

“No.”

“ _ What _ ?”

“I said I wasn't listening.”

“ _ Minta heard you the first time!!! _ ”  She put her hands on her hips and folded down to just above Ren’s height.  “If Ren was so disinterested, then why did she not say so earlier, hmm?”

“I did,” Ren gasped, like a drowning man frantically breaching the ocean’s surface.  “You ignored me.”

“Hmph!  Minta thinks that Ren should maybe speak a bit louder, and that it is not very polite of her to go on pretending to listen to someone who is very excited to speak.  However, Minta understands that to talk when one’s audience is uninterested is nothing short of rude. Unlike Ren, Minta will now be polite and cease her chatter about this topic.”

Minta crossed her arms and, looking incredibly displeased, pressed her lips together.

And kept them pressed together.

…

This was getting kind of awkward…

“Well?” Minta eventually demanded.

“What?”

“What does Ren wish to talk about?  Since Minta’s topic was so uninteresting.”

“All you were doing was talking about your clothes.”

Minta scoffed.  “And?! Minta’s clothing is very interesting.  Everyone thinks so. It must be, if she is to emulate the great Arataka.”

“I don’t know who that is.”

“Arataka Shimon?”  Ren still did not know who that was.  “Surely Ren is joking, to say she does not know who Minta’s father is.”

“You call your dad by his first name?”

“No.”  Her mouth became an embarrassed squiggle.  “Perhaps. Sometimes. Why is Ren so interested in this pointless inquiry, hmmm?  Minta thinks that the far greater problem is Ren and her preposterous claims. How can she say she does not know the most famous man of this century, when she is so clearly wearing his clothes?  What could her explanation possibly be?”

“...What…?”

Minta reached down with her disgustingly long arms, yanking up the back of Ren’s collar and holy shit, holy shit, can’t breathe -  “Do you see here? The name right here, on this incredibly stylish tag?”

“Ghhhhhkkkk,” Ren said.  

“It says, right here at the top, the name of the most respected and recognized fashion empire in all of Japan: ‘Shimon Chic.’  And then, right below it, ‘designed by Arataka.’ He only uses his first name because he is simply so iconic.” She shook Ren a little.  “Does Ren see? Does she understand, now, just how famous Minta’s father is?”

“Hhheekkkk,” Ren said.

Minta, thank god, finally released her collar, and Ren stumbled her way back into standing.  “There! Now Ren properly understands just why it is so preposterous for Minta’s father to be unknown.  He is simply everywhere! An icon such as himself is on all the posters and always praised by the media.  Minta, being his very trendy daughter, is as well.” Her expression soured. “In fact, she was getting ready for an interview, before that nasty little cat kidnapped her.  It was to be on how Minta is planning on celebrating Valentine’s day. Unfortunately, she was not able to change into her very cute outfit, and is instead stuck in her pajamas.  How horrible!”

She… she was wearing a cape.  And booty shorts. And a shirt that looked like it was from a pirate movie.  Those were  _ pajamas? _  Ren enjoyed being able to breathe again, though, so she decided to not tell Minta about how horrendous her outfit was.  “You get interviewed?” she asked hoarsely.

“But of course!”  She flipped down her sunglasses and brought the edge of her cape up to her mouth.  “Minta is always on TV! The media loves her and is always very interested in what she has to say.  Who else are they to ask for fashion and lifestyle advice? She is, as all the magazines call her, a true icon!  Surely Ren has seen her around…?”

Ren’s immediate response was “no,” but if she really thought about it, she supposed that she could drum up some recognition.  Some of the models in that magazine Amelie was flipping through had had blonde hair, perhaps, and if she thought further, hadn’t Michi mentioned someone like her, recently?   _ Isn’t she so cool? _ he had said, flipping the channel to a half-remembered figure with the same tenor as the one who posed before her now.   _ Everyone online’s been talking about her recently.  They’re saying she’s definitely gonna get scouted by Hope’s Peak.  Maybe she’ll be the Ultimate Teen Icon! That would be way cooler than the Ultimate Fashion Icon.  There was already one a few years ago, and that was just a repeat of her dad. _

“It sounds annoying,” she settled on saying.

“Hm?”

“Being on TV all the time.”  Ren had been on TV once as part of an interview her parents had given, and it had been awful.  She’d had to wear a dumb black dress and smile the entire time. She couldn’t imagine doing it on a regular basis.

“Oh-ho-ho, au contraire!  That is a chic French phrase that means ‘on the contrary.’  For you see, a true Shimon thrives under the spotlight. This was true of Minta’s father, and it is true of Minta herself.  That is why everyone loves her. When she is beneath the spotlight, she becomes the best version of herself. She becomes… Minta!”

“You become… Minta.”

“No, no.”  She interlaced her fingers beneath her chin and smiled brightly.  “ _ Minta™ _ !”

_ That _ time, Ren got it.  “Oh,  _ Minta™ _ .”

“Yes, yes, that is right!   _ Minta™ _ !” She clapped her hands. “Minta knew that Ren was not as dumb as she had feared!”

Well, geez, it wasn’t Ren’s fault Minta couldn’t emphasize properly.  Still, though… “That just means you have to fake a personality all the time.  It still sounds annoying.”

Minta frowned.

“Minta is not faking,” she said flatly.

Ren… had messed up.  She quickly backpedaled.  “Okay, then.”

“No, no, Ren does not get to make such an inflammatory statement and then just whisk it away, like some silly little dirt beneath the rug.   _ Minta is not faking. _  Do you understand?  Minta is presenting a simplified version of herself to the public.  This does not mean that she is someone else when she is in the spotlight.  Minta is still Minta.” 

“I under-”

“Up-up-up!”

Ren shut her mouth.

“You see,” she continued once Ren had been quiet for a suitable period of time, “as much as the people talk about authenticity, the truth is that no one likes a real person.  This is a fact that every media presence is aware of, Minta and her father included. What people like are those just beyond the edge of truth, whose personalities are easy to digest.  Why does Ren think that the public flocks to fake romances and stereotypes in their stories, hmm? It is because the characters are not real. If they were, they would not be as enjoyable.  Real life is ugly and dull and difficult to understand. Even in the stories that Minta prefers, it is only grasped at, because these stories are formulated to highlight a specific aspect of life, and for them to focus on everything would make a work too cluttered and hard to comprehend.  The best characters, too, are ones that are simple in this way. They take _ inspiration _ from life, because to imitate it would make a character that does nothing and says nothing.  They would be too hard for readers to figure out.” She winked, suddenly back to her usual self.  “Like Minta! When Minta is in the spotlight, she condenses herself down into the parts of her that will most appeal to the audience.  They are still authentically Minta, even if, when put together, they do not perhaps accurately portray her depths. Minta thinks they make for a very likeable image, hee hee!”

Okay.  So, Minta thought she wasn’t faking because she was using parts of her true self to create a fake one.  It was an explanation that was contradictory at best, and at worse, completely nonsensical and only raising further questions.  There was one thing in particular that, given Minta’s explanation, Ren especially didn’t get – something that didn’t really match up with the image of Minta that she seemed so proud to present.

“You’re a literary critic, though,” Ren said.

Minta scoffed.  “And? What is Ren saying, hmm?  That Minta is not an intellectual?!”

“I dunno.”  Ren shrugged beneath her glare.  “You don’t act like one, I guess.”

Ren had been expecting a tantrum, but after the initial creasing of her eyebrows, Minta’s features melted back into a neutral expression.  For a minute, she did not speak. She looked almost like a doll as she fiddled with her sunglasses, finally taking them off and running a thumb along the edge of their frames, back and forth and back and forth.

“No,” Minta agreed, something like sadness in the edges of her now-exposed eyes.  “I do not.”

That was all she said.  It was enough of an answer for Ren, at least.

**\--ooo--**

The tension in the room was broken when Dai, of all people, suddenly burst into the bathroom, shaking and sweating and spewing only half-coherent insults as he shoved Minta aside and started rooting through the cabinets.  This, of course, immediately set her off, and her yelling at Dai provided the perfect distraction for Ren to slip out and leave.

She hadn’t eaten all day, due to the whole being asleep thing, so while the sleeping quarters was made unavailable to her, she decided she might as well waste some time getting food.  She would be getting it from the kitchen, obviously; giving up chips for dinner was a small price to pay if it meant not dealing with whatever mess the storage room had twisted itself into.

She had been hoping to get there unaccosted.  

This did not happen.

**\--JANITOR’S WING--**

“Well, if it isn’t the lovely, emotionless Yusuke!” Tatsuo called as Ren walked down the hallway, one of his feet taped to the wall and a thick coil of rope gripped in his already knotty wrists.  “You’re just in time to witness the amazingly combined brilliance of the great Tatsuo Kitano and his assistant, Eito Hiromi!”

“Hi Ren,” Eito said, like it was a perfectly normal thing to be climbing into a trash chute with nothing but a rope tied around his waist.  

“Uh,” Ren said.

In the hours that Ren had been asleep, it seemed that they had actually gotten the trash chute open.  Apparently, all it had taken was a chef's torch, a makeshift saw (whittled by Izumi with help from, surprisingly, Yuuto), and multiple agonizing hours of repeating the same boring motion over and over.  The chains now lay upon the floor in a shimmery pile of their own shavings, cut in two places because neither Dai nor Tatsuo had been convinced that the other was capable of sawing it properly. 

The inside of the chute wasn’t particularly exciting, although Ren hadn’t expected it to be.  Eito invited her to stick her head in, but she declined, already put off by the rotting smell that was emanating from it.  “It’s just garbage,” Eito supplied. “But I’m pretty sure the smell is stuff left over on the wall instead of stuff at the bottom.  It didn’t sound like there was anything down there when we tested it.”

“And we sure tested a lot!” Tatsuo chimed in.  “We threw down just about eeeeeverything in this whole entire building!  Teacups, timers, radio parts, even a whole entire case of shampoo! Who could possibly need that, riiight?”

“He took the shampoo out and filled them with sand before we tossed them down.”

“Ha ha ha!”  He slapped a hand down on Eito’s shoulder.  “What a killjoy, huh? Just be sure to not go spreading that around, okaaaayyy?”  

“I don’t think she saw you throw them down, anyway.  You had the writing on the box facing away from her when you did it.”

Tatsuo stared at Eito for an uncomfortably long period of time.

“But anyway,” Eito continued, “based off of how long it took for things to fall, we found out that this building is about seventy to a hundred feet long.  You can’t really figure out how many floors that is unless you know how tall each one is, though, so I was gonna go down and see how many feet it is from chute opening to chute opening.”  He waggled the tape measure in his hand. “Should be pretty easy.”

“Can’t you just... use that to measure the height here?” Ren asked.

“We already did.  Ten feet. It’s lower than the average building, according to Suzume.”  

That… did not in any way explain as to why they were still going down there.  Whatever. More pressingly: “Aren’t you supposed to be in the stairwell?”

Eito nodded.  “Yeah, but Minta got annoyed at everyone and kicked me out.  Of course, she’s not in there anymore, but now I’m kind of invested in this.  We’re making a lot more progress here.”

“It’s ‘cause  _ I’m  _ here!” Tatsuo said, winking. “I bet the rest of those crummy groups haven’t gotten aaaaaaaanything done!”

“Mine didn’t,” Eito agreed.

“See?  And, now that you’re with me, we’re doing  _ so much stuff! _  Wow!  It’s almost like there’s some kind of positive correlation between ‘distance from Tatsuo’ and ‘amount of good things happening’!”

He began to list off an overly-expansive list of examples, ranging from things as mundane as a girl finding a quarter while standing next to him (which, he explained, he very quickly stole) to how earthquakes always happen in places where he’s not, and isn’t that a little suspicious?  Being as he seemed to be rather invested in this self-aggrandizement, and Eito was busy checking his ropes, Ren took the opportunity to turn and continue her quest to the kit-

Tatsuo ripped his taped foot off the wall, swiveled around, and slammed it down directly in front of Ren’s, scraping the rubber off the front edge of her shoe.  “Huuuuh? And just where do you think  _ you’re _ going, Yusuke?”

Holy  _ shit. _  “I’m getting food.”

“Huuuh?  You’re leaving already?  But the show’s about to start!  Don’t you wanna stick around and watch me lower Hiromi into this cold, damp, diseased trash cavern?  It’ll be suuuper fun! I even tied the knots myself, so there isn’t  _ any way _ that he’ll fall and die!”

_ Dai _ , Eito mouthed when his partner wasn’t looking.

“Unless you want to see that, in which case, wow!  That’s suuuper sadistic!”

Ren stepped over his foot and kept walking.

“Tatsuo, I don’t think that would be a good idea,” Eito said, apparently against whatever it was Tatsuo had been about to do behind her.  “Here. We probably need to put new tape on, since you ripped that off…”

**\--FLOOR 01 HALLWAY--**

Ren’s journey to the kitchen was interrupted when she was nearly bowled over by a mass of tangled hair and what might have been a crowbar, shortly followed by their resident cat-eared schoolgirl.  “Hi Ren bye Ren– Izumi, wait!” Akira yelled, almost tripping as he sprinted down the hall after her.

…Yeah, Ren didn’t want to know.

**\--KITCHEN--**

Yuuto was in the kitchen.   _ Why  _ was Yuuto in the kitchen.

“Oh, Ren, hello!” he said, putting a bunch of stuff down on the counter.  “I haven’t seen you all – h-hey, where are you –”

**\--CAFETERIA--**

Welp.  To the storage room it was, then.

Ren only made it a few steps before the kitchen doors opened, and she heard that hurried tapping of pointed boots upon the fake linoleum. “Ah, hold on!” Yuuto said, reaching out.  “Where are you going?”

His fingers settled on her arm.  “I’m getting food. Let go.”

“Ah, you’re in luck!” he said, grip tightening as he looped her back around.  “I was actually just about to make food, if you’d like to stick around.”

**\--KITCHEN--**

“I thought you were supposed to be in the storage room,” Ren ground out.

“Oh, well… yes, that’s true, and I was until just recently.  Akira and Izumi were doing such a good job of things, though, that I decided to focus my attention on something else for the time being.”  Now back in his original spot, he released her arm. Ren contemplated a means of escape and, tragically, found none. “Specifically, cooking!  Everyone’s been working hard all day, and hardly anyone has had time for a proper meal. We don't have all that much food, but I wanted to make something anyway with the few fresh ingredients we have.  I was hoping we could all eat dinner together, perhaps, despite the horrible situation we're stuck in? It would be a relaxing way to end a busy day.”

“It’s three o’clock,” Ren said.

“...Ah, and…?”

“It’s kind of early for dinner.”

“It… does take time for everything to cook,” he said, though he looked a little doubtful, now, “a-and, assuming no one has really eaten anything today, I’m sure they’ll appreciate an early dinner!  Don’t you think?”

“I guess.”

“Exactly!” He busied himself again.  “Ah… I was just hoping to make a simple soup, you know?  This is something that I always make for my siblings when they're sick.  It’s simple but quite nutritious. ...Ah, but I don't have quite the ingredients I'd use back at home, so I'm a little bit unsure as to what to substitute..." He looked down at the various root vegetables he had acquired - all rather common ones, from what little Ren knew - and then brightened.  "Well, that's what's fun about cooking, isn't it? You don't have to follow a recipe. You can be as spontaneous as you want! Isn't that exciting?"

Ren’s last attempt at cooking had been when she tried to make instant mac and cheese, got bored waiting for the stove to turn on, and just put everything into the microwave instead.  Apparently, you had to boil your noodles before you actually did anything with them, and everything kind of started burning if you just let it cook in there for twenty minutes on high.  Also, the metal had literally melted the microwave. “I don’t cook, but I guess.”

As usual, Ren regretted tacking on any extra information to her dismissal.  “Well, there’s no time better than now to learn! Why don't we get you started on chopping vegetables, hmm?  Knowing how to cut things properly is one of the basic skills anyone should know. Ah… here!” He pulled a knife off the counter and wrapped her fingers around it, then turned her such that she was properly facing the vegetables.  “Why don’t you go get started here, and I’ll go gather everything else?”

“I,” Ren began.

“Ah, thank you so much!” Yuuto said, and disappeared back into the pantry.

_ Well _ then.

She wasn’t gonna cut the sweet potatoes because literally, who put those in soup, and there was no way she was cutting onions because she refused to cry in front of Yuuto.  This left the stack of carrots, from which she took the nicest-looking one and placed it in the center of the cutting board.

Hm…

Yuuto had set himself up on the tables in the center of the kitchen.  Only a minute after she had started her chopping, he abruptly stopped, and then slowly put his utensils down.  She did not look up, even when he came and peered over her shoulder.

“U-um… may I ask what you're doing?”

“I'm cutting the carrots.”   _ Thwack. _

Yuuto swallowed.  “Ah. Yes. Well, um, you are aware you don't have to cut them quite so...  _ violently _ , right?”

Ren finished her motion – a violent downward-swing that left a long cut where the blade pierced the board - and then stared at him.  When she felt the silence had gone on for a suitably uncomfortable period of time, she leaned down and, in an agonizingly slow seesaw motion, cut another slice.  

“Alright,” Yuuto said, wiping his hands off on a towel, “here, let me help you.  Um, usually you would - hold the carrot when you cut it. And, you don't swing it - you keep the knife down low.  Like this." He grabbed the knife from Ren's hands and gave a demonstrative slice, before once again handing it back to her.  "See? It's quite easy."

Ren studied the root, contemplating the advice Yuuto had just given her, before raising her arm up and slamming the knife down upon it just as she had done before.  The force was strong enough that a wedge of carrot flew off onto the floor.

Yuuto twitched, his nervous grin curling in on itself, but quickly melted back into his usual awkward demeanor.  "Oh, well, it really would be easier if you would just do it how I told you to, but if that's the way you'd prefer to do it, then I guess you could do it that way?  It's, well, it's all okay so long as it gets chopped up, right? Right.” He clenched his fist. “I’m going to go cut up the onions.” 

Somehow, eventually, they got the base of the soup going.  Ren was put in charge of stirring the vegetables - a process which Yuuto, evidently frightened by her lackluster slicing and dicing, had explained and demonstrated for a solid five minutes - while the supposed expert gathered the rest of the ingredients.  He gathered them such that he was always keeping an eye on her, which was kind of funny when he ended up backing into the open fridge door and almost tipped the whole appliance over.

Chop, thunk, fizzle.  In went a grated substance and a healthy dose of oil, after Yuuto had deemed the bottom to be too dry.  He was talking mindlessly to her as he moved and worked; Ren tried to tune him out by focusing on the sizzling and steam of a base that smelled halfway decent.

"And then - oh, that's weird."

Well, Ren caught  _ that _ shift in conversation.  "What is?"

"Well," said Yuuto, pulling out the knives as he talked, "it's just - normally I'd prepare fish with a knife that - well, I forget what it's called, but it looks like this."  He paused his looking to trace the shape out in the air. Ren had no idea what look he was going for, but it looked sharp. "I can't find it, though! There's just an empty space here... Maybe it was misplaced?  I could see some of our classmates doing something careless like that."

Yuuto began to pull open the drawers, muttering to himself as he shifted through the clutter within them.  Ren stopped her stirring to examine the knife rack for herself, and sure enough, there was an empty space where one of its components should have been.  Had it always been like that? She tried to remember back to when she had first seen the kitchen, but she had been more preoccupied with Amelie and Minta at the time to properly look around, and didn't usually go for the knives any time she came back in for food.  Still, even she had to admit that an unaccounted-for knife could only mean bad things.

Yuuto, as usual, did not agree.  "I can't seem to find it," he said, closing a drawer on the opposite side of the room.  "It has to be here somewhere, though. I don't know where else it could possibly be - Ren!  I thought I told you to stir that!"

Oh.  It seemed that she had just been staring at the knife rack for the past five minutes, and as a result, the vegetables had started to burn.  Whoops. 

**\--ooo--**

Somehow, eventually, they got the soup going, and much to Ren’s horror, Yuuto really did end up putting both sweet potato and fish into it.  It gave the kitchen a funky but not altogether unpleasant smell – not bad enough to make Ren want to vomit or anything, but not good enough that she was willing to eat what he had made.

His masterpiece complete, Yuuto fiddled with a timer.  It was the same kind that Eito had used before, and while she knew Suzume hadn’t done anything with it, she still eyed it warily.  “And… now it just needs twenty minutes before we can put it on low. There! Don’t you feel accomplished, now that you can see what you’ve made?”

“Not really,” Ren muttered, flicking away a thick cloud of steam.

Yuuto tsked, and would have perhaps gone into a lecture about appreciating the value of her own hard work or something cheesy like that, had it not been for the cafeteria doors slamming open.

Dai had certainly seen better days, Ren thought, watching him trying and failing to steady himself against the thick metal of the doorframe.  His trouble came mostly from how badly he was trembling; he was doing a good job of hiding it, but it quickly became apparent when he raised his hand and failed to brush his wilting hair out of his face.  His eyes darted between the two of them, slow and unfocused. 

“Where’s…” he began, and then trailed off, eyebrows creased together.

Yuuto very slightly tilted his head towards Ren.  “Does he look well to you?” he murmured.

“No,” Ren muttered back.

Yuuto nodded, and when he turned back to Dai, he talked as if he were talking to a feral animal.  “Ah, Dai? How are you doing?”

“Fuckin’ peachy.”

“Ah.  I see.  Is there… anything we can help you with?”

“I’m lookin’ for – none of your business,” he snapped.  A thick, incessant sweat stained the top of his collar. “Why’s it so hot in here, huh?  What, are you trying to cook in Satan’s - in - in hell, or somethin’? Huh? Is that where you’re - tryin’ to cook?”

“We only have the one pot going,” Yuuto muttered, handing Ren the timer as he scurried over.  He placed a hand to Dai’s forehead, frowned, and then he pulled collar back to try and cram his hand down it.

“Hey, hey, whoa!  What, are you trying to – to – to –“

“Oh, hush.” He tugged his hand back.  “You’re burning up. How long have you been feverish?”

“I don’t have a fever, you -” He jabbed out a finger and pricked himself on one of Yuuto’s needles.  “Shit - ow -”

“Here, let me see it.”

He wrenched his hand away.  “No.”

“Dai, you’re clearly not well.”

"Fuck you, I feel fine," Dai said, and then promptly vomited on the floor.  

“...Ren,” Yuuto said, “could you, ah, pick up some supplies from the storage room?  Just a bucket and some soap will be fine.”

God, anything to get away from this mess.  

**\--STORAGE ROOM--**

Ren wasn’t that much of a dick that she’d just leave Yuuto to deal with the mess, so she went searching for what he’d had asked for.  The bucket was easy enough to locate, but the dish soap she found half-spattered against the wall, where Izumi’s discarded pile had yet to be cleaned up.  Gross, she thought, putting the bucket down and kicking it into its dusty inside.

Because she was in the front of the room, she was afforded a clear view of Ikki tripping in through the closet door, flushed and sweaty and with his jacket back on.  She almost would have guessed he had the same sickness as Dai, were it not for how heavily he was breathing. “Ha, ha - hold on,” he gasped, skidding to a halt just in front of her.  He bent over, one hand on his knee and the other tugging at the fabric of his shirt as he panted. “Sorry. Ran here,” he wheezed. “Forgot I’m - ha - not supposta do that. Just give me a minute.”

“Aren’t you supposed to be opening the elevator?” Ren asked.

“There’s - ha – a situation with that.”  He took a deep, painful-sounding breath. “Where’s Yuuto?”

“He’s dealing with Dai in the kitchen.”

“Dai?  What’s he doin’ in there?”

“I dunno.  He came in, yelled at us, and threw up.”  She held up the bucket. “Yuuto sent me to get stuff for it.”

“Aw, hell.  Guess I can’t ask him for help, huh?”  Ren shrugged. He groaned. “Shit. Well, we kinda need him, ‘cause Izumi’s tryna crowbar open the elevators and like, yeah, I know I’m super buff an’ all, but I once saw Izumi bend a wood board in half, and let me tell ya, that was some scary shit.”

“So… you want Yuuto to beat her up.”

“Yeah, maybe he can stab her with those needles – no! He was one of the storage room people, yeah?  That means that he’s gotta have some idea about somethin’ we can use. Like, uh… a net? Or a cattle prod?”  Ren did not laugh. “Yeah, that was just kinda mean. My bad.”

“Just ask Akira or something.”

“Dude, Akira tried to grab her arm and he went flyin’.  Last I saw, Shiori was tryin’ to stick stuff up his nose to wake him up.”

“Just ask Amelie, then.”

“You serious?  Nobody’s seen her since noon.”  He dragged a hand down his face.  “’Sides, even if I did see her, there ain’t no way she’d help me…”

Okay, yeah, good point.  “Yuuto probably needs this…”

“Ah, shit, sorry.  I’m just gonna walk with you, yeah?  Just to ask his advice while he, uh, cleans up and stuff.”

Ren didn’t really care, so she shrugged and let him follow her back in.

**\--KITCHEN--**

When the two of them got back in, Dai was finally sitting on the floor, echoing unholy noises from the empty soup pot he had stuck his head in.

“Geesh,” Ikki said, “he really looks bad, don’t he?”

Yuuto took the materials from Ren and quickly got to work cleaning the floor.  “It seems like the flu, although to be honest, I’m not sure if that’s the correct diagnosis or not.  None of my siblings ever reacted quite like this when they got sick…”

Dai muttered something.

“What was that?”

“I’m not sick!” he roared, and shoved his head back in.

Yuuto rolled his eyes.  “Now, Ikki, is there something I can help you with?”

Once Ikki had informed him of the situation and the floor had gotten properly cleaned, Yuuto had agreed to help, although not before he got Dai into a proper bed with some water.  From there, he’d head to the front room, where he’d ask Shiori to look after Dai while he properly dealt with Izumi.

“It should be a smooth procession of events,” he said as he helped Dai, still with his head stuck in the pot, off the floor.  Ikki offered to help, but Yuuto brushed him off. “I’ve dealt with much worse,” he said as he maneuvered Dai over to the door.  “Just, ah… Ren, turn off the stove when the timer goes off, okay? Actually, Ikki, could you stay here and make sure it gets turned off?  Ren doesn’t have too much cooking experience, and I don’t quite have time to show her how to properly work the stove.”

“Hey, no problem, yeah?  Go worry ‘bout Dai and Izumi.”

“Ah… Thank you!  I really do appreciate this.”

Once Yuuto had left, Ikki turned to Ren.  “So, you ain’t experienced in the kitchen, huh?” he said, looking as though he were trying very hard not to laugh.

“I know how to use a stove.”  You just had to twist the dials and stuff.  It  _ said _ “off” at the top of each one.

Still, Ikki gave her a playfully mocking grin and crossed his arms behind his head.  “Nah, but I don’t mind stickin’ around. Ain’t no way I’m goin’ back to that mess in the front.  S’kinda crazy, yeah?”

“I guess.”

“Trust me, dude, it is.”  He wandered over to the soup pot, currently bubbling away beneath a stainless-steel lid.  “Soup, huh? I actually don’t like soup all too much, just cause it’s too watery for me, but there’s this real good convenience store a block or so from where we live, and it’s got this killer vending machine out front that’s only got soup in it.  Ain’t that crazy? The dude who owns the store can’t actually afford to buy shit to put in it, so he just shoves a buncha soup cans in there. Anyway, that kinda stuff I’ll buy and eat. It’s souper good. Heh. Geddit?  _ Soup _ er -” He opened the lid to the pot, and his smile immediately dropped off his face.  “Uh… What did Yuuto put in here, exactly…?”

“He saw that there was a spice rack and got excited.”

“I meant more the vegetables, but, uh, now I’m kinda concerned.”  He sniffed it. “Well, it smells okay, but I guess I’ll keep an eye on it.  What’s he makin’ it for, anyway?”

“He wants to make everyone dinner.”

Ikki contemplated the soup again.  “Yeah, there's really nothin’ I can do here.”  He tapped a pattern on his knees. “Oh! I could make somethin’ else, yeah?  Soup's good, but it can't be all you eat. And Yuuto’ll have his hands full with Dai and Izumi, so he won’t have time to make something with it.”

“Can you even cook?”

“Ha!  Can I cook.”  He flashed her a grin that was probably supposed to look cocky and suave, but just made him look like a dork.  “Ma runs a restaurant, you know. It’s this small place down in Shibuya. Actually, ah, hang on-“ He swung himself around, exposing to Ren the poorly-sewn patch on the back of his jacket.  It had bold, obnoxious red-and-gold lettering, and a lumpy white shape in the center. “See? That’s our logo. Ma designed it herself, but, uh, she ain’t super good at sewin’ or nothin’…” He swung back around.  “We, uh, don’t actually serve meat, since Ma’s a buddhist an’ all. The chicken just looks cool. Adds to that ‘exotic appeal,’ yeah?”

“I guess.”

“Exactly.”  He started to rummage through the cabinets.  “But anyway, I think I’ve helped her out enough that it’d be embarrassin’ if I didn’t pick up a thing or two.  I know how to work a stovetop, at least.”

He paused for a completely inappropriate amount of time.  “Hilarious.”

“Ha!  I know you’re bein’ sarcastic, but I’m just gonna pretend otherwise.”  Finally finished his rummaging, he leaned back and tossed her a coarse white mound of fabric.  “Alright. First rule of the kitchen is ya gotta wear an apron. Stains are a bitch to get out, and no one likes laundry.”

“I never said I'd help.”

He shrugged off his jacket and tied a second apron cleanly around his waist.  “Second rule of the kitchen is if you're in it, you're helping. You can hand me stuff, yeah?  Now, first things first: I need you to go into the storage room…”

Ren could feel, deep within her bones, that it was going to be a long afternoon.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Minta's free time event was supposed to be about her desire to read non-Japanese literature, but I ended up having to completely rewrite it. I'll guess you'll have to wait to hear about her love of literature… ;_; Also, you guys got the SERIOUS ending to the event oooooo (don't ask me how many times i rewrote its ending GOD)
> 
> Anyway, here's a fun post I did about how well the students can cook:  
> https://gertritude.tumblr.com/post/182137818402/can-the-students-cook-a-summary
> 
> Aaand here's some drawings I did of minta in more “trendy” outfits:  
> https://gertritude.tumblr.com/post/182122168677/minta-is-on-tv-all-the-time-surely-you-have
> 
> The next chapter is one I really want to be good, so I'm giving myself the normal two weeks to write it. Of course, if I finish it early, I'll post it early!
> 
> NEXT TIME: The students have a happy communal dinner :) :D ;)


	14. Mealtime Motives

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The students's attempts at a decent dinner are spoiled by a surprise guest.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> three things:
> 
> 1) sorry this is late, again :(
> 
> 2) i personally cannot stand the pacing in this chapter, so i'm sorry if things just happen and it feels weird that they happen. in my defense it is very long and after a while you just get sick of revising things, say "fuck it", and post it
> 
> 3) there's a part of this that's written in an ~experimental ooohhh~ style just cause i felt like it. if you don't like it/feel like it's hard to understand, then tell me and i'll replace it with just general summary stuff. 
> 
> oh also there are pictures!!! the best part of the chapter in my opinion B)

Dinner ended up being a conglomeration of different dishes, each put together by whoever happened to wander into the kitchen during the rest of the afternoon.  Minta, having given up on her shower and skeptical of the aesthetic sense of her classmates, devoted herself to finding the appropriate plates and silverware for the occasion, making their amateur spread look a lot more professional than it had any right to be.  Already dished out was, of course, Yuuto's soup, along with peanut-y spring rolls which Ikki insisted were authentic, unless you counted all the ingredients that weren’t.  Izumi crafted a small campfire in a corner of the kitchen at one point, over which various hunks of pork and leek had been skewered and roasted.  Eito, after getting hosed down by Yuuto for the god-awful smell he was emanating, made rice, ate it all, and then started on some kind of adventurous, supposedly American cuisine that involved him boiling ketchup over Izumi's open flame.  He also made more rice, which Yuuto saved.  Suzume contributed a bag of corn chips found in the storage room.  The finishing touch of the display were sixteen mugs, each containing a tea blend that Shiori had spent an hour mixing and brewing, placed alongside sixteen glasses of what Amelie claimed was not alcohol, but a substance that just so happened to taste like it, as well as a single glass of vinegar for one hilariously unlucky soul.  Akira's platter of honey cookies were tossed on as well; Ren had actually helped out with these, mostly because she had been the one to pipe on the different characters that the cosplayer had wanted. 

It was nearing eight o'clock by the time everything had come together.  Ren, tired and hot from having been forced to help out for the past few hours, ignored Yuuto's pleading looks for further assistance and sat down at the first seat she saw.  It had been long enough since her initial hunger that the idea of actually eating no longer appealed to her, but she was sure that Yuuto would nag her if she were to sneak out. 

The first people to sit after her were ones that had been working in the kitchen, but others quickly trickled in as Yuuto and Suzume went out to spread the news.  Dai, who still had an unhealthy flush about him but was acting far more coherent, spat and flailed as Izumi carried him through the double doors and threw him down on one of the seats; Landon and Shiori, both looking unkempt and, in Shiori's case, exhausted, arrived moments after.  Even Tatsuo showed up, although he seemed to be less focused on the food and more focused on Eito, just from how closely he was sitting next to the poor bastard and from how he never seemed to stop staring at him.   

Ultimately, the only people missing were Fuyuki and Sayaka, which Ren guessed made sense.  She hadn’t seen either of them since they had gotten out of Landon’s group planning that morning (Fuyuki because he had quite literally hidden behind a plant, Sayaka because she had never volunteered and Landon hadn’t thought up anything she would be good at doing), but considering how the two of them seemed to fare in social situations, it made sense that they would skip out on a big gathering such as this.  God, she wished she was one of those two right now.  Sitting at the table with the gross silverware and flowery plates was reminding her of every stupid banquet her parents had ever made her go to, and if it weren't for how tired she felt, she would have already stood up and left. 

Maybe she could just wait fifteen minutes and then leave early, she thought as everyone settled into their seats and obnoxious chatter filled the dining hall.  It was quite a scene, with everyone having already formed into little groups that were each trying to talk over each other.  For example, some ways down on the opposite side of the table, Minta and Gina had gotten into yet another argument about Gina's poetic ability (or, in Minta's opinion, lack thereof).  The gist of it was that Minta thought Gina wasn’t a real poet, Gina thought Minta wasn’t a real literary critic, and neither were willing to concede the other’s points.  Why no one had thought to sit between them, Ren didn’t know.

Ignoring their soon-to-be shouting match, the rest of the students were getting along decently well.  Across from Ren, Dai and Suzume had snagged the bowl of chips and were trying to flick them into people's glasses, although with little success.

"This is bullshit.  Why the hell didn't you pick better chips?  You can't hit shit with these."

"C'mon, Dai, you're just not trying hard enough!  Here, first you gotta make your hands steady."

"Fuck off, I'm - snnnrrk - trying."

"Try aiming for someone a little closer.  You just gotta aim a little high and - oh!  OH, I got it!!"

"How the fuck did you do that?!"

"See?  Like that.  It's, like,  super easy.  Akira didn't even notice!"

"Shut up!  He's gonna hear you, dumbass."

"Whaaat?  You can't hear anyone in all this noise!"

"Just because you're deaf from fucking a bunch of fireworks doesn't mean the rest of us are.  Now give me the next one.  That was just a lucky shot -"

Akira, who was sitting to the right of Ren, had indeed noticed the chip fly into his drink. While Dai and Suzume were distracted with the next target, he quickly emptied a nearby salt-shaker into his glass and replaced it with Dai's, smiling sweetly all the while.  Upon noticing Ren’s staring, he looked at her and winked, bringing a hand up to his chin and snickering quietly.   

On Akira's opposite side was Tatsuo, who, surprisingly, was not attempting to distract the group with his magic tricks again, but was instead sitting quietly, head cocked as he turned his usual wide-eyed stare on Eito beside him, leaning in close enough that their arms almost touched.  If Eito had noticed, he was doing a hell of a good job pretending he didn't; his posture as he ate his ketchup concoction (rather than putting it on the table, he had just put the pot right down on his plate) and talked to Landon on his other side was downright relaxed.  They were having some kind of conversation about photography – apparently, Eito had tried to take some pictures down in the trash chute, but they had come out terribly, and Landon was trying to puzzle out why.  He had to pause partway through some exposition about aperture to reposition his sister, who had fallen asleep beside him, into a more comfortable position.  “She’s been moving stuff and running around all day to help out, even though I told her not to,” he said.  “She was obviously lying about not being tired…”

From there on, their conversation was much softer - probably so they didn't wake her, Ren guessed, although with all the other noise it was a pretty pointless gesture.  Minta and Gina's argument had indeed devolved into shouting by this point, and opposite of the two murmuring boys, Ikki was loudly trying to convince Izumi that no, it wasn’t proper to just start eating stuff at communal meals like this, and yes, this happened very often for people, his mother had a restaurant, she needed this kind of stuff to stay in business –

A seat or two away, Yuuto had manifested behind Amelie and was now desperately badgering her about the drinks. 

"Please, Amelie, just tell me which glass you put vinegar in." 

"Hm?  I'm sorry, I didn't hear what you just said."

"Amelie, which glass did you mess with?"

"I'm afraid I don't know what you're talking about.  I don't remember 'messing with' anyone's glass."

"When you were mixing drinks earlier, I heard you tell Ren - very sneakily, I might add - that you put vinegar in someone's glass.  Now, you know that's an incredibly rude thing to do."

"I'm not sure as to why you're so concerned about this.  Are you, perhaps, worried that you might be the one to drink it?"

"That's - well, of course I am, b-but everyone worked really hard on this, and I don't want their experience to be ruined just because you switched their drink."

"Well, it seems that if you're going to be pushy about it, I might as well tell you that I poured the vinegar for myself."

"I - what?  Why would you do that?"

"It's quite rude to ask a personal question like that, don't you think?"

"How, exactly, is that a personal question!?  No, don't - don't drink that!!"

Having eavesdropped on everyone else, Ren wondered, briefly, what the two missing students were doing.  Maybe they were sneaking food from the pantry.  It was a smart move; everyone else was concentrated in the cafeteria, leaving the storage room wide open for easy snack perusal.  Aside from the chips being flung around, none of the food really appealed to her; she'd probably just steal a bunch of stuff from there, once her feet felt a little better.

Or, she guessed that she should reluctantly eat a cookie first, since she had spent all that time icing them, and she was pretty sure Akira had been slowly nudging the plate of them over to her each time she looked away.  She picked the closest one from the diminished pile, but it only got halfway to her mouth before it was smacked out of her hand.

"Ren!  You can't just start eating yet!" Yuuto, who had managed to sit down beside her without her knowledge, admonished.  "I was about to do a toast, now that it seems like everyone who wants to be here is here."

Someday, Ren was going to take his needles and relocate them to the inside of his nostrils.  For now, she picked the cookie back up, looked Yuuto dead in the eyes, and licked the kanji for "friendship" right off the top.

Ugh.  That had been way too sweet; she should've just given it to Akira. 

Yuuto had what appeared to be a minor conniption before his face settled back into vague disappointment and frustration (the Mom face, Ren had started to call it).  "You don't have to be so childish," he huffed, and stood with the glass of Amelie's concoction, tapping on the edge in order to get everyone to quiet down. 

"Attention, attention everyone!  I would like - "

A chip hit his right eye.

"Oh!  You did it!"

"Ha!  Fuckin' told you it was easy!" Dai snarled. 

Yuuto tensed, and for a second, Ren almost thought he was going to throw his spoon - but instead he just set it back down on the table, lips tightly pressed together.  "Yes, thank you Dai, that was very funny.  I'm glad to see you're back to your usual self."  He composed himself again.  "Anyway, now that everyone's finally listening to me... I just wanted to thank everyone for all the hard work they've been doing - both in trying to figure out a way out of here, and in making this dinner.  Mononeko may want us to turn on each other, but I think today has proven that we certainly won't, don't you think?”

“Literally why would you say that,” someone murmured as the table bubbled into lukewarm applause. 

Yuuto coughed.  “Yes.  Right.  Well, now that those thanks are out of the way, I suppose I'll let Landon talk about what everyone’s accomplished today.  I would offer to do it myself, but, heh, obviously I haven’t been able to keep track of everything… Landon?”

Landon stood, and Yuuto sunk back down.  “Ah… yes, thank you, Yuuto.”  He re-adjusted his glasses.  “Obviously, you all have been separated from each other, and thus ignorant about what's been going on with everyone.  This is partially my fault, as I didn’t inform you, but I would now like to rectify that.  To start, I’d like to discuss…”

**\--ooo--**

**> >>The Elevator.**

Right, so, there’s a radio host.  He’s a pretty tall guy, yeah?  Hot and muscular, yannow, what radio hosts usually look like.  Super sexy voice, too.  Anyway, so one day, he and a pyrotechnician walk into an elevator, and the joke is – wait, actually, lemme hold on.  Always spoil it too soon.  Anyway, he’s in an elevator, and this pyrotechnician girl walks on with him.  She’s pretty short.  Perky.  The kind of gal he’d be friends with, yeah?  So she walks in, and they’re ridin’ this elevator together, and all of a sudden, the power goes out!  The girl says –

“…”

The girl says –

“Oh!  Right!  Um, I say, ‘oh my word!  The power just went out!  How dreadful!’  How was that?”

Ha, that was great!  Maybe don’t do the accent, though.  But, yeah, the power goes out.  And that’s a problem, ‘cause the guy’s got a show to go to, and the girl does too.  They can’t just stay stuck on an elevator forever!  But, yannow, even though the guy’s useless at this, the girl’s super good with electronics.  She’s always wirin’ shit up.  So she says –

“’Mua ha ha… well well well, whatEVER do we have here?  An innocent little powerboard, all alone on its way home from school?  Ha!  It isn’t any match for I, one of the best pyrotechnicians of this age!  I’ll pry it open and hotwire it so that it will obey US, not other way around!’”

Maybe oversellin’ it a little.

“Oh, sorry!”

S’alright.  So, she’s good at ‘em, even though he’s not, so since the repairperson ain’t comin’ anytime soon, she starts in on makin’ a button that’ll get the elevator to go up and down.  And, yannow, things are goin’ great, despite the uh, lack of actual stuff to work with.  Like, they’re in an elevator.  All she’s got is a screwdriver and a rubber band.  So it takes her a while, but she finally makes a button shell and everything – see?  Yeah, here, you can pass it around.  So, she makes the outer part, and then she goes to attach to the wiring, and that’s when she realizes: she doesn’t know a thing about how elevators work!  She’s spent all this time makin’ a button and now she can’t even attach it to nothin’.  Ain’t that funny?

“I really thought I could do it, too…”

S’alright, man.  You did the best out of all of us.  But, uh… yeah.  The radio host and the pyrotechnician end up not getting’ much done, after that.  At the end of the story, they’re both just kind of stuck there with a half-finished button and a set of wires that they can’t figure out.

“’And they staaaaaayyy stuck there, until they both turn to booOOOooOOoonessss….’”

Maybe, uh… maybe not that morbid, yeah?  I’d like to think we ain’t gonna turn to bones.  Not yet, anyway. 

**> >>The Trash Chute.**

**Scene 1**

_The curtains open.  TATSUO, a tall, charismatic young man, bounds onto the stage._

 

**TATSUO**

The stage presents: The Wonderful!  The Magnificent!  The Greatest Magician in the World, Tatsuo Kitano!

 

_The AUDIENCE applauds._

 

**TATSUO**

Ladies, please, calm yourselves.  Gentlemen –

 

_He winks._

 

**TATSUO, CONT’D**

We have an absolutely stunning show prepared for all you lovely audience members out there!  It has action – adventure – my amazingly beautiful magic, of course – and, dare I say it, but maybe even… romance?!  Wow!  I don’t know about you guys, but I’m suuuuuper excited for it, now!  Shall we get started?  To begin, we’ll begin… at the beginning!  Ha!  I, the great Tatsuo Kitano, was -

 

_The show is interrupted by DAI walking onstage._

**DAI**

We sawed the chains off the trash chute and got in.

 

_He flips through a notebook titled “EITO’S NOTES”._

**DAI, CONT’D**

Uh… then I tied Eito up – not like that – and he got lowered down the chute, and then you guys said the building is like six to ten floors, then you took pictures or some shit, and also at one point the ropes snapped and Eito almost died – what the shit is this?  Those were climbing ropes.  They don’t fucking snap.  Not for dickcheese Eito over here.

 

_EITO pops his head onto the stage, waves, and then promptly leaves._

 

**TATSUO**

Wow, Hirano!  I had no idea you were there when it happened and could therefore refute the event both Hiromi and I saw happen before our very eyes!  I also had no idea you were so incredibly rude as to spoil the _whole entire show_ before I could even start it!

 

**DAI**

It’s not about if I was there.  I tied that shit myself.  That rope was fine.  What the hell were you guys doing to break it? 

 

**TATSUO**

Gee, Hirano, I’m just not sure.  What were you doing while the rope was breaking, huh?

_As he says the next line, TATSUO walks closer and closer to DAI, getting so close that DAI is forced to walk back, and then keep stepping back to stay out of his way._

 

**TATSUO, CONT’D**

Huh?  Huuuuuh?  Huh huh huh huh huh huh huuuuuh?

 

**DAI**

Fuck you.  I’m leaving.  Go saw your own dick in half.

 

_DAI exits._

 

**TATSUO**

Wow!  Since Hirano decided to spoil the entire show, I guess that’ll be all for today, folks!  Join the great Tatsuo Kitano next time, when he’ll be demonstrating with his very willing snowboarder assistant how to escape from a completely sealed-off tank of water before you drown!  Wow!

_TATSUO bows and exits._

**> >>The Stairwell.**

**The Forbidden Paradise: A poem in three acts**

_**By: Minta, Eito, and Gina** _

**I. Fallen**

Poor Minta, working lone upon the stair,

Her hair so shines a purer, holy light,

An angel’s silk betwixt a devil pair,

Who never do what she commands them right.

 

**II.** **Yeah so uh here’s what actually happened**

Yeah, so first there was the line,

And then the line didn’t work.

Then there was the curtain,

And then the curtain didn’t work.

Then there was the stack,

And I called it the stack even back

When it was just a pile of

Broken boxes,

Flat metal,

And anything else we could stack up.

The stack got so tall it touched the ceiling

And then it kept going,

And going,

And going and going

Till the entire room was just the stack

And the stack was also you,

And me,

And you too, I guess.

It was fun to sit on.

Anyway, after that, Minta kicked us out,

And then she kicked herself out.

So then I guess we didn’t get

Anything done at all.

**III.  Ode to Minta Shimon**

Minta’s a rich, ableist fuck

Who’s stuck

In a bad luck potluck of affirmation

Confirmation

And dissemination

Of her own worst traits.

She sucks.

**_\--ooo--_ **

Landon held his face in his hands.

“So what you are telling me,” he said, voice muffled, “is that none of you got anything done today.”

The reports had been less than stellar, as Ren had thought they might be.  No matter how much each of the students tried to play it off, the only group that had really managed anything was Tatsuo, Dai and Eito. 

“Ehhhm,” Suzume said. 

“Maybe it’s a good thing!” Akira said.  “Um… Not breaking the rules means that we can’t get hurt, right?  So, that’s good.”

Izumi fiddled with a fork, eyelids drooped down into  a lazy glare.  “Tch… wish we’d do some _more_ rule-breaking.  Maybe then Mononeko’d actually show up.”

Landon rolled his eyes.  “Izumi, why on Earth would you ever want Mononeko to show up?  You do realize that his appearance could only mean bad things for us, correct?”

“I ain’t stupid.  I know that.  Wanna find him so I can fight him.”

“…I’m sorry?”

She took the fork and started picking at her teeth.  “Been thinkin’ about it.  He don’t look that strong.  Short and stubby, slow.  Got those claws but I seen worse.  Plus those little twig legs.  Could probably beat him if he’d stop hiding like a coward….”

“Izumi, if Mononeko shows up again, then you are not to attack him.  Do you understand that?”

“Don’t see why I can’t.”

“It’s because it’s directly against the rules.  It’s one of the few that’s directly stated, which means that if you break it, he can punish you.  Do you understand that?”

“Tch…” She looked away.  “Whatever…”

“I can look after her and make sure she doesn’t,” Yuuto offered.  “I’m quite good at corralling rowdy children, after all!”

“Ain’t no kid.”  Izumi straightened up to her full height; Ren could feel her ominous presence from all the way across the table.  “Don’t look that strong… I could take ya.”

“…Ahm…” 

“Alright, uh….” Ikki scratched at his neck.  “Not to interrupt this weird intimidation stuff or nothin’, but I gotta say, it’s a little discouragin’ that we didn’t do much of anythin’ all day, even though we were all workin’ hard.”

“It’s only the first day,” Landon said.  “We can turn in for tonight and get more done tomorrow.”

“If the police don't find us by then,” Dai muttered.

“Ah, yes, that's right!” Yuuto said, standing back up.  “We should all remember that it isn't as though we have to rely on ourselves!  By now we've surely all been reported as missing, and the police are out there looking for us.  I would even say we’ve become a national priority, considering that we’re Hope’s Peak students.”

“I’ve never been famous before,” Suzume gasped.

“Yes, that’s right!  I suppose we are.”  He raised his glass.  “Well, in light of that, I think we should all take a break for the evening!  Breaks are important after, all.  Ah… what should we toast to?”

 “We should toast to friendship! °˖✧◝(＾∇＾)◜✧˖° ” Akira cheered.

Izumi frowned.  “M’not friends with any of you.”

“Um… to future friendship, then!”

“I’d much rather hope to live than become friends,” Amelie said.

“Yeah!” Suzume said.  “Cause if we all get out of here, that means we get to go to Hope’s Peak together!”

“Hm.  Perhaps.”

“Well, I like that one, so I think I’ll use it,” Yuuto said, and raised his glass up high.  “To our future together as classmates!”

The rest of the students copied him.  “ _To our future as classmates!_ ”

To end his speech, he took a sip of his drink and promptly started to choke.  Welp.  Ren guessed that solved the mystery of just who Amelie had given the vinegar to.  

Glasses clinked together, clumsy and uncertain, and the students finally resumed their chatting.  It was like they hadn’t been kidnapped at all, Ren thought as food started to get passed around.  Was this how it was supposed to feel at Hope's Peak?  This underwhelming sense of camaraderie, the arguing, the bad jokes that repeated through the crowd?  It had been ages since Ren had been in a such a large group as this, and almost never had the group moved with her, shoving plates into her hands, Akira tapping on her shoulder to say hello, Gina trying to get her attention on the other side to resolve a now table-wide dispute.

She had never heard her name said by so many people at once.  It was almost like -

It felt -

"What on earth is going on here!?"

The table silenced.

Ren had only a moment to wonder how Mononeko had managed to get on the table without anyone noticing before he was talking again.  "I thought that attempted rule-breaking was the worst thing that could happen today, but I guess that I was wrong.  I just can’t believe my sexy little button eyes.  All you students sitting here together... talking to each other... eating together... having 'fun'....

"What kind of genre do you think you're living in, huh?  Some crappy slice-of-life shoujo?   No!  This is completely unacceptable!  Not one of you guys even poisoned the food!  It's horrible!  It's aggravating!  It's... well...!  ...It's... really sad."

He stopped in the middle of the table and suddenly plopped down.  "I don't think I can do this anymore... this is just too heartbreaking.  I told you guys to start killing each other, and none of you listened to me.  Hey, does a person exist if there's no one who will acknowledge the things they say and do?  Do you guys really hate me so much that you wouldn't just kill me, you'd erase me from reality itself?"

"What is he talking about?" Suzume half-whispered.

"Why would I fuckin' know?"

"Isn't it oooobvious?" Tatsuo said.  "He's totally senile!  He doesn't understand a single thing he's said to us so far!  Why else would he constantly say things that make no sense whatsoever?"

Mononeko whirled around and pointed an intimidating paw at his pointed grin.  "How dare you say such disrespectful things about your Overseer?  Didn't your parents ever teach you how to act properly?  Or - _No!_ "

Next to Tatsuo, Eito had brought his spoon back up to his lips, only for Monokuma to spin around and kick it out of his hands.  It clattered onto the floor.  "No eating!  This is a genuine emergency, here!  All of you guys would rather hang out with each other than kill each other, and I'm going to fix this problem right here and now."

"You said you had wanted us to bond," Landon pointed out.  

"In what way is this bonding?!  No, don't answer that - I couldn't bear to hear whatever ignorant answer is going to come out of your mouth!"  He shook his head, as though to clear it of those horrible thoughts, and then straightened back up.  "I have an announcement: all students of Hope's Peak Academy are to gather in the lobby immediately, or else!  No outside food or drink are permitted."

"Whaaat?" Suzume cried. "But we were just about to start eating!"  

"It'll be a very short meeting.  Starting in.... oh, about three minutes or so!  And if you're not there, then you'll never be able to come to the lobby ever again!  Because you'll be dead.  I'll kill you."

He spun around and flounced off the table, as though expecting the students to follow right behind.  After a few confusing seconds, they quickly did.

**\--ooo—**

Sayaka and Fuyuki were relatively easy to find.  Yuuto fetched the latter from the stairwell, and the former... well...

"...Were you sitting out here the entire time?"

None of the other students had noticed, but Ren, being the last to leave the dining hall, had seen the conspiracy theorist sitting half-crouched outside the double doors.  Had she just been... listening to them?  That was weird.  Kind of creepy, too, she guessed, although she personally didn’t feel too uncomfortable about it.

"Ummmm," Sayaka said, looking as though she wanted desperately to phase into the wall, "ummmmmmm -"

“We're supposed to go to the front lobby or else Mononeko will kill us or something."

"What?  What??" Sayaka gasped, scrambling to her feet.  "What's going on?"

Well, if she had been listening, she obviously hadn't been able to make out what was said.  Whatever.  Ren started walking, and Sayaka stumbled behind.  "I dunno.  Mononeko got mad that no one's killed anyone yet."

Her eyes went wide.  "Oh no... you don't - you don't think he's gonna, um, do something bad?"

Ren shrugged.  "He said that he was gonna fix the problem or something."

Sayaka sucked in a deep breath and ran her tattered fingertips through her hair.  "That - that s-sounds - that sounds really bad."

They rounded the corner only to find Eito alone outside the lobby doors, shaking a few packets of fruit snacks from his left boot.  The right was lying beside him, having already been emptied.  "That line about not bringing in food wasn't a throwaway joke," he explained when they got close enough.  "Mononeko's already patted me down twice.  This really is a tragedy..."

Sayaka fiddled with one of her foil rings as she tried to slow her breathing.  "We - we aren't allowed to bring food in?  And... And you guys were, um, he interrupted you in the middle of - dinner?"  

"It was at the start of it," Eito corrected, finally fishing the final fruit pack out of his boot.  He tore it in half and shoved the congealed mess into his mouth.  He chewed exactly twice before swallowing it whole.  "We hadn't even gotten to eat yet."

"You were eating that tomato thing," Ren pointed out.

"It's ketchup soup, if you want to be specific.  It was popular in the United States during the first half of the twentieth century."

The door creaked open and Suzume's head popped out.  "Pssssst.  Hey, Eito.  Mononeko says you need to hurry up.  Oh, hi, Ren!  Hi, Sayaka!"

Sayaka gave a stiff wave.  Eito bent down to pick up his boots.  "I just got done.  Can you - ?"

"OH, yeah, sure thing!" Suzume said, and pulled the door open wider.

**\--THE LOBBY--**

Surprisingly, Mononeko didn’t comment when they finally entered the room.  He was positioned in the same spot where he had first stood a few days ago, but whereas then he had been all childish giggles and excited exclamations, now he stood silent upon the fake wood, shoulders slumped in what might have been sadness.  

“So,” Mononeko began.  When he wasn’t happy, he almost sounded like a normal human being.   “No one’s dead yet.  That’s a little disappointing.”  He began to quiver.  “Downright depressing, even.  It makes my poor heart ache.  So that's why..."  He paused, paw moving up to wipe away a nonexistent tear, and sniffed.  "That's why... We've decided to give you guys a motive!"

Suddenly, he was all energy again, throwing his paws up into the air as canned cheers burst from the speakers and cheap confetti rained down.  

"What is _wrong_ with you?" Gina asked.  She swatted at the confetti.  “What _is_ this?”

"Well, maybe if you weren’t so blind, you’d be able to see that _that’s_ some high quality confetti, _AND_ that there’s absolutely nothing wrong with me!  I'm the best model around, you know!  I just got my parts checked last week."  Mononeko spun around.  "But you're trying to get me off topic, talking about myself!  This is about something just as important.  You see, we thought about it for a while, and we realized that hey!  Not all of you guys have killed before, so it makes sense that some of you might be a little nervous about it.  Don't worry!  It's perfectly natural, along with all the other gross teenage stuff you guys do."  He snickered, like coins clinking against machinery.  “So, we decided that the best thing for us to do would be to ease you into the idea of killing.  We’re giving you a motive!”

“A… motive?” Shiori asked.

“Yep yep yep!  Mo-tive.  ‘Motive’ in english.  A noun.  According to Mister Mononeko’s Authoritative Definition Book, it means, and I quote, ‘a wonderful reason to commit murder.’  Of course, all reasons are wonderful, but this one is especially so!”

“It’s only been three days since we arrived here,” Amelie said.  “Surely you’re not so impatient you can’t wait a few more?  Or, do you not think we’ll kill each other without your intervention?”

Except for a slight pause, Mononeko continued as if Amelie hadn’t spoken at all.  “You guys know that there are cameras everywhere around here, right?  I’ve seen and heard everything you guys have been trying to do.  Which, you know, isn’t much, but it’s still enough for me to be disappointed.  You guys sure are desperate to leave here, but instead of following my perfectly good suggestions, you’re trying to do it on your own!  Tsk, tsk, tsk!  But, of course, you guys are teenagers.  Teenagers love being independent and rebellious! 

“And so, you know, I researched a bunch into how humans work.  I went to college.  I got a PhD and wrote a book that changed the entire face of psychology.  Most importantly, I consulted a real-life criminal psychologist!  And do you know what they said?  Hmm?  They said, and I quote, ‘Well Mononeko, you sexy beast -’”

There was a sudden pause where their Overseer went perfectly, almost scarily still.

“Ahem,” he continued.  “As I was saying.  The criminal psychologist told me that the number one reason people kill is... for survival!  Absolutely no one wants to die, unless there’s something super wrong you, but you’re all Hope’s Peak students so there’s no way there’s anything wrong with you.   This means that you all have healthy survival instincts, and in the face of certain death, there’s no way you wouldn’t abandon your usual defiant natures to kill if it meant you got to live a little longer.

"So, here's the first ever motive of this amazing Killing Game: if you kill someone, you can leave instead of starving to death!"

They could -

_Starving_ to death?

“Wh-what do you mean?” Yuuto asked.  “There’s plenty of food lying around.  We even have everything that we made back there…”

Mononeko pressed his paws up underneath his chin.  “Do you know what object permanence is?”  Yuuto blinked, apparently too bewildered to answer, and the cat continued onwards.  “Babies don’t have it.  It’s the idea that, when you no longer perceive an object, you understand that it still exists.  Isn’t that such a stupid idea?!  How are you supposed to know that something didn’t happen to it when you weren’t looking, huh?  I think babies are the real smart ones.  They understand that the world is nothing more than a bunch of bastards who’ll take your stuff the minute you aren’t looking.”  He paused, contemplating his paws.  “Anyway.  Point is, we got rid of all the food while you were all standing around here like a bunch of idiots.”

“Wh-what?!”

“No way…”

“He's just joking, right?”

“It’s true,” Eito said, hand placed longingly on the edge of the door’s window.  “All of my fruit snacks are gone…”

“Dude, fruit snacks are, like, the least of our problems right now.”  Ikki jerked his head back around to Mononeko.  “You’re tellin’ me that you guys managed to clean out everythin’?  Like, the entire kitchen, the pantry, and the freezer?”

“Yes, yes, yes, and definitely yes!”  He spun around.  “Isn’t it so great?  With death looming over your heads and the horrible mood problems this will cause, there’s no way you guys won’t start killing each other.  Ooooouuughhh I’m so smart!!!”

Minta crossed her arms.  “Minta refuses to believe this nasty little cat-rag.  She is going to see for herself whether these claims are true or not.”  

She shoved Eito aside and pulled against the handle - and frowned, pulling again and again as the doors did not open.

“Minta demands you unlock these doors.”

“Up-up-up!” Mononeko said.  “Surely the Ultimate Literary Critic knows that leaving before a meeting is over is completely against social etiquette?”  

“ _Open this door right now!_ ”

“You locked it because you’re getting rid of everything, right?” Eito asked.  “You can’t have us leave until all the food is gone.”

Mononeko danced back and forth.  “Yes, yes, yes!  Isn’t it awful?  Doesn’t it just make your skin _craaaawl_?  Why, if I had skin, it would have dragged itself halfway out the room by now, that’s how nervous I’d be!”  

Ren –

\- didn’t really feel much of anything, if she was to be honest.  In the midst of the students’ panic, she felt cold and dull, detached from that intense feeling that was winding its way through the rest of them.  She couldn’t describe it.  It was like the motive had been mailed envelope by envelope, word by word by word with a break for weekends, and in the time it took to open and read each one, the impact of the former was lost, and she was left with was the vague impression of the words whose meaning had already been forgotten.

They were going to starve to death, Mononeko said.  _Sure_ , they were.

“Oh, honestly, there isn’t any reason for people to panic,” Landon said.  “So long as we have access to water, it takes about thirty days for a person to starve to death.  Surely we'll be able to leave here in that time.”

“The hell'd you hear that?” Izumi muttered.

“In thirty days?” Mononeko asked.  “You think you’ll be able to get out of here in thirty days?!”

“Of course,” Landon huffed, ignoring the way that Shiori was tugging on his shirt sleeve.  “Either the police will come for us or we’ll leave ourselves.  We’ve already made decent progress at figuring out how this facility works.  I suspect that we’d be able to formulate a way out of here before the week is up.”

“Oh?”

He waltzed to the edge of the table.

“You want to continue all the nasty, disrespectful, loophole-abusing stuff you've been doing all day?” he asked.  “You want to continue making a mockery of me and the community I've so lovingly tried to craft?”

“We -”

“However are you gonna do that?” Mononeko interrupted.  “Haven’t you read the incredibly beautiful new list of rules I’ve put up?”

The list of rules was supposed to be taped onto the front of the door to the filing room, but when Ren looked at it, she was greeted only to dull blueness.  The list was missing, but she hadn’t even noticed. 

“Whoopsies!”  Mononeko said.  “It seems that I was just so dang excited to talk about murder that I forgot to tell you about the new rules.  It’s almost like I perfectly timed this so that it would really kill your guys’s spirits!  It's only fair, riiight?  Considering  how you folks so thoroughly spat on mine?”

From somewhere, he unfurled the rule list - it must have been hidden under the desk, since it was wider than he was tall - and stuck it back onto the door.  There was a lot more crossed out, this time.  The newer parts were written in a thick, pink ink.

**\--ooo--**

**THE OFFICIAL LIST OF RULES FOR OFFICIAL HOPE'S PEAK STUDENTS**

  1. _~~Students are free to explore the Super-Duper Top-Secret Facility for some Super-Duper Talented Students (SDTSFSDTS) with minimal restrictions.~~  _
  2. _All students are prohibited from leaving the SDTSFSDTS unless approved by an authoritative entity._
  3. _Violence against Overseer Mononeko is strictly prohibited._
  4. _Tampering with cameras or other such recording equipment is prohibited._
  5. _Anyone who murders a fellow student will gain authorization to leave the building, unless they are discovered._
  6. _Additional rules may be added if necessary._
  7. _Students may explore any easily-accessible (i.e. not blocked off by a locked door or steel bars) place within the Super Duper Top Secret Facility for some Super Duper Talented Students (SDTSFSDTS).  Exploration outside of these places is strictly forbidden, unless approved by an authoritative entity._
  8. _Students are not allowed onto any closed floors (hereby marked by a ‘CLOSED’ sign), unless given permission by an authoritative entity._
  9. _Students may not open or enter the elevators unless given permission by an authoritative entity._
  10. _Unless given permission by an authoritative entity, students may not open, break open, or interact with a locked door._



**\--ooo--**

“Also,” Mononeko continued, holding up another long strip of paper, “we’ve decided to add in a list of subrules related to what does and doesn’t count as inappropriate interaction with a locked door, along with a few other, specific goodies about what you can and can’t do.  No one wants to read that aloud, so we’ll just post it right beside it!” 

Oh, Ren thought as he stuck it up against the wall.  It looked like Mononeko had gotten mad about what Landon was doing after all.  All along, Landon had been trying to jump through loopholes and skirt around the wording, and now all that not-rulebreaking had caught up to him in the worst way possible.  He was looking rather pale.  Ren wondered what kind of outcome he had expected, after everything he’d been doing today. 

“See?” Mononeko said.  “It’s now literally impossible to get out of here unless you guys kill someone.  Whew!  Problem solved, huh?”

“Well, that’s -” Landon cleared his throat.  “Do you really think that something like this is going to motivate us to kill each other?  Starvation and a change to the rules?  I’m certain that most of us would be unaffected by something like this.”

“Landon,” Shiori hissed, low and sharp.

“What?!  You mean you want _another_ motive?  How greedy can you Hope’s Peak kids be?  First you get into the best school in the country, now you need another reason to justify murder… it’s really annoying, you know.”

“That isn’t at all what I -”

“Shshshshsh!”  Landon blinked in indignant silence.  “Now, if you REALLY want another reason… well, What kind of Overseer would I be if I didn’t give you one?”  He produced from somewhere a piece of paper so long it rolled out onto the floor.  “Alright, alright… Ah-ah!  No peeking!  This is a top-secret list of all the possible ways we can convince you to kill each other.  Now, let’s see…”

He began to read through the list, humming as he did so, while Landon’s face grew paler and paler.  “H-hey now,” Ikki said, “he ain’t gonna actually pick another one, is he?”

“He’s just bluffing,” Gina scoffed, but there was a waver in her voice.  

“This is stupid…” Izumi muttered.

“Sorry for the delay,” Mononeko said after a moment, discarding the list and pulling a second one, identical in length, from behind his back  “There’s just soooo many ways to twist your little brains around!  It’s hard to pick just one.”

Landon’s face had turned the color of a dead oak tree.  “Surely if it’s taking too long -”

“Oh!  Here’s a good one!”  He tapped the edge of the strip.  “‘Kidnap everyone’s family and torture them until someone breaks.’  That’s a good motive, right?” 

“F-family?”

“He’s joking, right?”

“Torture…”  Yuuto choked, clutching the edges of his jacket.  He had seven siblings, Ren remembered, watching the way he suddenly trembled.

“Ugh!”  Monokuma said.  “You were supposed to say, ‘no, Monokuma, that’s a terrible motive!’  You guys may be smart, but you sure are self-centered, huh?  Not everyone here has a family!  What's the point of a motive if it doesn't drive all of you to act?  We’ve got way better ones than that.  Like… how about instead of torturing people you know, we just torture you directly!”

“You’re gonna _what_?” Suzume shrieked.  

“Torture you!  We’ve got lots of different methods, too.  We could turn off the heat until you guys are so cold you’ll kill someone just to feel warmth again.  Or - here’s a good one - we could play loud noises whenever someone’s trying to sleep, so you all go crazy and kill someone just because they looked at you wrong.  Oh, oh, how about we rip out one of your fingernails for each hour everyone’s still alive?  No, that’s too brutal, huh?  You’ll be too scared to think up a good murder plan.”

“This is all just blatant fear-mongering,” Landon snapped.  “It really isn’t necessary to -”

“No, no, it is.  You said it yourself, right?” Mononeko interrupted.  “You guys are too determined to get out of here.  Just starving you won't be enough.  Just threatening to kill you won’t be enough.  We gotta really pull out the big guns if we want you to do what we want.  Do you think we won’t?  After everything you’ve done today?”

“We didn’t break any of the rules.  You can’t do anything to us because of that.”

“Wow, can you say anything else?  ‘We didn’t break anything, we didn’t do anything wrong-’ Not everything’s about you, you know!  This is a grade-A classic motive, and we were gonna use it no matter what you useless snot bags decided to waste your time on today.  However… you know what we were gonna do?  We were gonna wait a week to use it!  Your actions today, however, have showed all of here at the SDTDFSDTS that we vastly underestimated your clearly nonexistent maturity.  It’s like you guys thought you were the ones in charge of this place instead of your ol’ Overseer, here!  Isn’t that funny!  If you guys weren’t so eager to make a mockery out of us, you’d have had an entire week of peace, but because of Mr. ‘I’m-not-a-rulebreaker,’ you’re all gonna die instead!  Isn’t it funny.  I think it’s funny.  Don’t you think it’s funny?”

“I think it’s stupid,” Izumi said.  

Mononeko tilted his head.  “Hmm?  What’s that?  Izumi, did you not understand what I’ve said?”

“Heard what you said.  I think it’s stupid.”  She was clenching and unclenching her fist.  Ren watched the motion as she talked.  “If ya want us dead so badly, you should kill us yourself.  None a this starvin’ stuff or motive bullshit where you make us do the killing for you.”

“Huuh?  Don’t you remember, Izumi?  I don’t want you guys dead!”  He spread out his arms.  “All we want is for you guys to get to know each other, and to do that, we’ve gotta put you in environment that’ll really bring out your true selves!  You need to be pushed to your absolute limits!  You need to be-”

Izumi looked incredibly unimpressed.  “Don’t feel pushed.  M’fuckin’ bored.  You’re shit at makin’ shit interesting.”  

“Tsk tsk!  Don’t you know it’s incredibly rude to interrupt someone who’s talking?  I think that maybe you can’t appreciate our lovely facility and lovingly thought up death traps because you’re just small-minded.  It’s understandable, considering the civilized life you’ve had to lead up until now.  Why, even holding a conversation is probably difficult for you!  Is it difficult for-”

“Shut _up_ already!  D’ya ever stop talkin’?  It’s annoying!”  There was a stapler on the desk next to her; lacking any other weapon, Izumi took it and pointed it directly at Mononeko.  “How ‘bout you just stop talkin’ and  _fight us already!_ ”

It happened so fast that Ren couldn’t even comprehend it.  One second Izumi was swinging the stapler, and the next she was on the ground, a wild look in her eyes as she snarled and snapped at the predator on her chest.  She had lost her weapon in the half-second scuffle; the arm that had swung it was now raised above her, dripping a thick red ooze from the wounds that marred its skin.  Her fingers twitched but nothing more, forced into stillness by the claws that dented, but did not pierce, the speckled skin of her neck.

Above them, the faint sound of gears grinding could suddenly be heard.

“Man, you kids really have no reading comprehension skills!” Mononeko tsked as the ceiling opened up behind him.  The grinding noise, almost deafening now, continued as the students began to step back, eyes wide as - holy shit, was that a _gatling gun_? - was lowered into the lobby. “You were raised by wolves or something, right?  Can you even read?  ‘Cause the list of rules back there explicitly states that violence against Overseer Mononeko is in no way allowed!  The Ultimate Poet hasn’t even broken any yet, and she at least has an excuse for not knowing them.  She’s literally blind!  You’re not blind, and you’ve already tried to break them.”  

“I can read,” Izumi growled.  She sounded more angry than scared, despite the gun that was now pointing at her.

Mononeko ignored her.  “Since we understand that adjusting to civilized society must be really hard for a feral mutt like you, Izumi, I won’t punish you this time… But if you keep on trying to hurt poor ol’ Mononeko, then we’re just gonna have to take this big ol’ gun here and shoot you till you’re dead!”

“Izumi,” Shiori gasped.

There was a moment when Izumi trembled - in anger, Ren realized, she was about throw herself at him - but then her limbs went incredibly still.  “‘M not stupid,” Izumi snarled.  “I’ll stop.”  To show it, she lowered her injured arm and pressed her lips into some kind of complacency.  “Now get off.”

“The Ultimate Survivalist understands that she has to give up to survive.  Your manners need work, but overall, it’s just what I expected from a Hope’s Peak student!”  Mononeko stepped off and Izumi immediately sprung upwards, retreating back a few steps as the gun folded back into itself and went up into the ceiling.  The tiles closed as though it had never been there to start with.

Every room could have something like that in it, and they’d never be able to tell.  

Ren felt...

“See?” Mononeko announced to the crowd.  “Now my paws are all dirty… It’s gonna take ages to get this clean.”  His claws retracted, and he  a paw on his nonexistent hip.  He sighed.  “Stains set really quickly, so I guess we’ll just have to cut this meeting short, huh?  And here I didn’t even get to choose another motive!  I’m sure you all got the point though, riiiight?  You guys understand everything I said, riiiiight?”

The room remained silent.

“Oh, great!”  He began to walk through the crowd; Fuyuki stumbled to get out of his way.  “Well, I guess if you’ll ‘scuse me pardon me make way coming through, I’ll be out of your grubby hair.  Up!”  He hopped up, paws on the door handle and feet on the door, and with all his might, opened it up.  “Up pu pu!  Well, see you guys when the first murder happens!” he said, and waved as he slipped through the crack. 

Everyone watched as it slammed shut.

“Oh my,” Amelie said, breaking the silence.  “That reaction was far more childish than I had thought it would be.”

**\--ooo--**

The cafeteria was as empty as when they had first woken up there.  The kitchen cabinets were bare; the freezer became a graveyard of empty shelves; the storage room was full of holes.  Mononeko had been telling the truth about the food situation. 

“This ain’t real,” Ikki kept saying, opening the same box over and over again as though it would suddenly have food in it.  “Right?  I’m just hallucinatin’?”

“He even took the spices…”

“M-my chips!”

“They really do intend to starve us,” Amelie said, voice on the verge of laughter as she ran her hand over one of the empty shelves.  “Oh, my.”

Dai stomped around.  “This is fuckin’ bonkers.  This is some hardcore sadistic bullshit.  This is some fuckin’ kinky cat-themed BDSM ‘lock us in the basement and drink our tears’ kind of bullshit.”

“My,” Amelie said, “I don’t believe that accurately describes our situation at all.”

“It’s _metaphorical_!  Point is, he’s probably jerkin’ off to how miserable we all - why the _hell_ are you laughing?”

Her laughter was high and stilted, like notes hiccuped out of a dying music box.  She covered her mouth, but they still slipped out through the cracks of her leather fingers.  “Oh, I don’t know.  For lots of reasons.  I think that it would be rather boring to list them all, don’t you agree?”

“This isn’t funny,” Gina snapped.  “Nothing’s funny.  What is _wrong_ with you?”

Tatsuo bounced back and forth.  “Huh?  I think Pedrozo’s tooooootally right and not being super creepy right now!  There’s absolutely no reason to be worried about _anything._  We’re all going to be totally fine!  Oh, I know!”  He wrangled the two students closest to him - Fuyuki and Akira - and leaned in close.  “We should all sit down and have a sleepover, since everything is so 100% fantastic!  Maybe we could even eat snacks during it, since we have an entire roomful to spare.  Don’t you guy think that’s a good idea?”

“Eh hem… um… you’re holding me a little… tight………”

“...Get off.”

“Hmph!”  Minta stuck her nose up.  “Minta would never spend the night in the presence of someone like you.  She thinks that there are far more important things to be doing than to be having a party.”

“That’s right,” Yuuto said.  “Like, ah… Izumi, are you sure you don’t want something on that?  I have a bottle of peroxide right here.”

“M’fine,” Izumi muttered through a mouthful of torn fabric.  She had shrugged off Shiori’s offer of help to dress the wound herself, and was now tying the finishing knot on her torn-shirt bandages.  “Just a scratch.  Gonna get him back next time I see him.”

He gasped.  “Izumi!  You aren’t seriously thinking of trying to fight him again, are you?”

“Course!  He’s fuckin’ weak!  He only won ‘cause he played dirty.”  Her grin became feral.  “I’ve fought mountain cats before.  He ain’t nothin’.  I’m gonna corner him somewhere he can’t use his fancy guns and kill ‘im.”

“Ah, but I would think that that's the issue here,” Amelie said.  “If Mononeko could pull that military-grade weapon out from the ceiling, then we have no idea how else the rooms have been rigged.  Why, every room could be set up such that we'd be killed at the first signs of retaliation. I wonder what else they might have in store for us…?”

“Oh, oh!” Tatsuo said.  “I have lots of ideas!  Do you wanna hear ‘em?”

“Not particularly.”

“Well toooooo baaaad!  There could be more guns, knives, guillotines, trash compactors, poison, poison knives, trash compactor guillotines, knives in trash bags, guns that shoot trash compactors, alligators -”

“Oh, I’ve never seen an alligator in person before,” Suzume said.

“Me neither,” Izumi said, suddenly looking much less annoyed by whatever Tatsuo was spouting.

“Can you guys focus?” Gina snapped.  “Mononeko just signed our death warrants and you guys are just getting off track.”

“Sometimes… it’s easier to… avoid stuff like this…” Fuyuki whispered.

“Not when the problem is _literally_ happening to us _right now!_ ”

“Please don’t shout…”

“This is really happenin’, though, ain’t it?” Ikki asked.  “That really was a gun, and we really don’t got no food…  We’re really gonna all starve to death, huh…?”

“We’re not going to starve,” Yuuto said quickly.  “Because, ah… we all have families to get back to, don’t we?  We can’t see them again if we were to - well.”

“I don’t got one,” Izumi said.

“Well, aside from you, I mean.”

“I have a major show coming up,” Suzume said.  “I can’t do all the cool fire effects for it if I’m dead…”

“I got a competition to go to.  I can’t snowboard if I’m a fuckin’ skeleton.”

“Minta had a TV appearance she has already missed-”

“Well, I had -”

An exhibition, a family gathering, some place in the park they had agreed to meet their friend.  There were a dozen and then even more reasons why each person couldn’t starve to death in some mysterious facility, and each one that was said drove the group into a larger and larger panic.  

“Well, eh heh, it’s okay, everyone, because we don’t have to worry about missing anything!” Akira said, striking a lackluster pose.  “Because, um… the police are gonna find us!  Right?  And there’s no way that all of it was taken.  So, there’s probably some kind of snack bag hiding around, or, um, something… eh heh…”

“The police aren’t gonna come,” Eito said.

The group paused their discussion.

“H-huh?”

Eito started tapping on his fingers.  “I mean… it’s just common sense.  We’ve been here for about three days - probably missing for a total of five or six, since it takes about a day for a missings person report to air and I don’t think any of us saw any - and no one’s shown up yet. Most missing cases are resolved within the first 72 hours, which we’ve definitely passed.  This also isn’t just normal police officers looking for us.  We’re Hope’s Peak kids from all over, which means that this has probably become a national investigation, meaning they’ll be bringing in the best detectives they can.”

“Oh, do you mean-?” Yuuto began.

“You're talking about Kyoko Kirigiri, right?”  Gina asked.  “I met her once.”

“And Inspector Saihara.  He's probably the best detective there is at finding missing people.”

Akira perked up.  “But, um… if they're bringing in all these super talented people, then, eh heh, doesn’t that mean we're definitely gonna get found?  Right?”

“You’re right.”  He gnawed on his thumb.  “And yet, despite this, we’re still stuck here.”

Akira fidgeted.  “But… it’s only been three days, right?  So, um…”

“Given Detective Kirigiri and Inspector Saihara’s records, they should have found us in two, but they didn’t.  That means that whoever kidnapped us is pretty competent.  I mean… if I had to guess, this is probably a multi-person operation who’s been planning this for a while.  They’re good enough at what they do to have not gotten caught so far, so I would bet that they’re pretty good at not getting caught, like, ever.  I mean, they kidnapped sixteen students - some off the streets, in broad daylight with multiple witnesses - and we’re still here?  With Saihara and Kirigiri working the case?  If they haven’t found us yet, then I doubt they’re gonna find us at all.  At least, not before we all starve to death, anyway.”  He paused, fiddling with his watch.  “So, yeah.  The police probably aren’t gonna come for us.”

“But - but I -”  Yuuto took in a shaky breath.  “I - I can’t starve.  I have to go home, and... Who’s going to take care of everyone if I’m dead…?”

The room was deathly quiet.

Tatsuo teetered back and forth on his heels.  “Haaaaaah?  What’s the matter, everyone?  You're not worried or anything, aaaare yooouuu?  I once went an entire week without food!  You guys should toooootally stop being babies and start digesting your own muscle instead.”

“How was it?”

“Absolutely awful!  Horrendous!  I drank rainwater from people's gutters and almost attacked a woman for eating an ice cream cone!”  He winked.  “Of course, it was no challenge for me, the great Tatsuo Kitano.”

“What, the attacking part…?” Dai asked.  

“Ah… you know, if the police don’t turn up, then as I remember, there is one other way of leaving here alive,” Amelie said.  

Yuuto blinked.  “O-oh?  Is there?”

“Oh?  You don’t remember?  My, my.  It is the entire reason we’re stuck here, after all.”  

“Just spit it out already!” Dai said.

“Oh, you don’t remember, either?  I suppose that’s no surprise, considering how sick you were at the time, and continue to be.”  Her face tilted into an innocent smile.  “It’s a very simple thing that Mononeko told us.  He said that if we wish to leave this facility, then all that we have to do is kill someone!”

 

...Kill someone...

It felt like sand was settling in the bottom of Ren’s chest.

“Ah… You…” Yuuto gulped, the sound audible in the silent room.  “We have to…”

“I don’t have any plans of doing it myself, of course,” Amelie said.  “I just thought you all would appreciate being told, before you wasted any more time panicking.  Surely you all hadn’t forgotten?”

The sounds of vague denial filled the room.

“Murder’s still murder,” Gina said.  “It’s just as bad now as it was then.”

“Ah, but you’re blind, yes?  Perhaps if you were able to see just how troubling are predicament is, you would be able to understand why some people might compromise those morals to escape.”

“I _do_ know how bad it is,” she hissed.  “And that’s literally not what I said at all.  What I was _trying_ to say is that _I’m_ not going to kill anyone.”

“Hm.  Well, it’s very nice to know that one of sixteen people isn’t going to go axe-crazy. I appreciate the reassurance.”

“Minta would like to know as to why Amelie is so eager to bring up the idea of killing again,” Minta huffed.  “Could it be, perhaps, that she wishes to murder someone herself?  Hmm?”

“Oh, I’m certainly not going to kill anyone.  I’m far more interested in the rest of you.  Before, everyone was content to wait.  Now there’s there’s the threat of a slow death over our heads, and without any sign of rescue… doesn’t it make you nervous?”  She winked.  “Maybe not.  I’m not bothered by it, after all.  Ah, but what about people like Yuuto, here?”

“Me?” the student in question squeaked.  

“That’s right.  You have quite the large family to get back to, don’t you?”

“I-I do.”

“And what was it you said?  That you couldn’t starve?  That you needed to get back to them?”

“I, ah, did.  I did just say that.”

“Ah, but there’s no way to leave, and according to Eito, the police aren’t coming.  However are you to find your way back? If you really care all that much about them, then there’s only one way left.”

“I -”  He took a step back, eyes darting around.  “I-”

“Stop antagonizing him like that,” Landon snapped.

The smile fell from Amelie’s face.  

“I’m not,” she said flatly.  “I’m trying to make a point.”

“I know exactly what kind of point you’re making, and I think it’s completely unnecessary.  There’s no reason to panic or start turning on each other.  Listen,” he said, turning to face the entire group, “if it’s true that we can’t hope for outside help, then that just means we have to break out of here ourselves.  If we can resume what we were doing today and turn our focus to getting to the next floor-”

“Are you fuckin’ serious?” Dai interrupted.  “That’s what got us into this shit in the first place!”

“Actually, I believe that it was the lack of murder that caused this, as Mononeko said in the beginning.”

“ _Actually_ ,” Gina said, “what _I_ heard was that he was mad we were working together.  I bet he would’ve left us alone if we hadn’t started to do stuff.”

“Gina, you were one of the people who was passionate about getting down there.”

“You’re right,” she said, “I was.  And then I spent all day forced to work with someone who belittled me, and, you know, when I finally got away from her, I go cornered by Mononeko, who wanted to hear all about the rule-breaking shit we were doing.  And then, you know, when I didn’t tell him anything, he threatened to kill me, and when I s _till_ didn’t tell him anything, he threatened to kill me again if I said anything about it to anyone.  So that ruined the mood a bit.”

Landon blinked.  

“Mononeko... what?”

“He threatened to kill me.  Weren’t you listening?”

“I heard you, I just - what - when was this?”

“Like, around noon?  Minta got pissy and kicked everyone out, so I went too, and that's when he bothered me.  I'm only saying it now because I'm _pretty sure_ he doesn't care anymore, now that he already blocked us from what we want to do.”

Minta stuck her nose up in the air.  “Hmph!  Minta finds this story to be quite difficult to believe, when she did not receive any kind of attention from that nasty cat.  She thinks her classmate is just making it up.”

“He probably didn't look at you because you didn't need him to start messing things up,” Gina snapped.

“Excuse me?!  Minta thinks that it is Gina who would need not be targeted!  Minta thinks that she has not done a single thing right, and has only made things harder for the good and hard-working members of our little student group!”

“He… talked to me, too…” Fuyuki said.  “I didn't really know what was going on, so I… just stayed quiet… I think he was still kind of mad about earlier…”

“Yeah!  Ah, ha...” Suzume folded her hands together, looking almost embarrassed.  “He, uh… he said if I kept working, then he'd totally take away my gloves!  With my  hands inside of them!  P-pretty scary, right?!”

“Me, too…”

“Same…”

“I was in the bathroom-”

“-the laundry room-”

“-getting something from the freezer-”

“-and then-”

The other students began to speak up as well, until it seemed like almost the entire class had, at one point or another, been caught by Mononeko while they were alone.  Some students had just been interrogated; others had been threatened, made fun of, or had stuff thrown at them.  Akira, in particular, showed off a stain from where he’d failed to dodge an egg on time.  The commonality between them was that, each time, Mononeko had threatened them not to tell, and so they hadn’t - not until now, at least.

By the end of it, Landon had removed his glasses and was now rubbing a spot right under the edge of his eyes.  “So what you're all saying is, the majority of you were accosted by Mononeko, while I, Shiori, and Ren” (Ren kept her mouth shut, thank you very much) “were kept in the dark,” Landon said.

“It seems like it,” Eito said.  

“And, what I can assume from how this seems to have affected you all, that this is what caused our productivity to drop somewhere around halfway through the day.”

“I tried really hard to keep working!” Suzume said.  “But, um… it was a little bit hard…”

Landon pushed his glasses back up, and Ren was struck by how absolutely _infuriated_ he looked.  “So, ultimately, what all of you are saying is that the individual who kidnapped us, trapped us here, and has complete control over what rules he can and cannot change - thus granting him the ability to kill us any time he decides to really put a stop to what we're doing - was onto us all day, and not one of you bothered to say _anything_?”

“Did you miss the part where he threatened to kill us?” Gina asked.

“Threatened!  He threatened you, because he couldn’t actually do anything!  You should have _told_ me, so we could've changed our strategy!”

“Hey, c’mon, don’t yell at her,” Ikki said.  “She was just scared.  We all were, yeah?”

“But, you shouldn’t have been, don’t you see?  If we were breaking the rules, he would have killed you, but he didn’t.  It should have been reassuring, because it meant that we were _fine!_ ”

“Do you have piss for brains?” Dai snarled.  “He went and changed the rules on us!  He took the lot of us, bent us over his stupid rule book, and fucked us one by one with his prickly cat dick.  We can’t do shit now.” 

“That's not true,” Landon said quickly.  “That's not true, because -”. He paused, eyes darting around at everyone staring at him.  “Because - look.  I know this situation isn't ideal, but Mononeko's tactic today was clearly to send us into a panic.  He barely gave us time to read through anything.  I'll look over the rules tonight and see what we can get around, and then tomorrow, we can start up again, and -”

He was interrupted by a sharp tug on his sleeve.  “Landon, _please_ ,” Shiori said.  “Please, give it a rest.  If you keep going on like this, then he's really going to kill you.”

“That’s why I’m going to look through the rules again.  When we start up again tomorrow, I should have a good enough grasp on them to make sure we’ll all be fine.”

“Oh, but - Landon, that’s only going to get us into more trouble.  Why can’t you just understand that?”

“Shiori, if we don’t go looking for an exit, we’re going to die.  Even if it is dangerous, I think it’s worth the risk.”

She let go of his arm and took a sharp step back.  “Why do you think we’re going to die, Landon?”

Her tone was conversational, but her eyes were clearly not.  Landon, as he seemed so prone to, ignored the signs.  “Well, I don’t think that death is a sure thing, but if we don’t escape sometime soon, then we’re going to starve.”

“Why are we going to starve?”

“Shiori, now isn’t the time for dumb questions like that.”

“Why are we going to starve, Landon?”

“Are you asking me that seriously?  It’s because we don’t have any food.  Mononeko removed it all.”

“Really?” she asked.  “But I thought we didn’t break any of the rules.  Why would Mononeko punish us when we didn’t do anything wrong?”

“We didn’t… what?”

Her words turned sharp.  “If we didn't break the rules, then why is there no food, Landon?”

Landon looked as though he had been slapped. 

“Well,” he said.  “Um.”

“It’s _because_.  We _snooped_.   _Around_.  And, having puzzled that out, would you please tell me as to what you think Mononeko might do when we continue to do the things that got us into our current predicament?”

“That is - well -”

“That’s right!  He’s going to do even more horrible things to us, like all that torture nonsense he mentioned earlier.  And do you know what I find quite interesting about all this Landon?”

“Ehm -”

“What I find so marvelously interesting is that he did all this, even though we didn’t break any of the rules!  He did this because he fancied to.  We annoyed him so much that he thought, gosh, maybe I should just make those kids starve to death!  Isn’t that just so interesting?  And do you know what else?  I thought, this entire time, that something like this might happen, but you just went along and did it anyway!”

“If you knew, then why didn’t you _say_ anything?”

“I did!” Shiori exploded.  “I did, _I did_ , but you _never_ listen to me, you _never_ do, and what happened?”  She threw her arms out.  “Look around us.  We have no food, the police apparently aren’t coming, and now we are going to starve, Landon, and do you know what?  It’s entirely because you couldn’t wait.”

Landon looked as though he had forgotten how to breathe.  His eyes darted, this way and that, through the silent crowd, from one reluctant person to the next.  “Well - that’s not - I mean - we’ll be fine,” he stammered out.  “We’ll be fine, if we just -”

“Don’t say it,” Shiori warned.  

“Shiori, there has to be something -”

“ _Shut.  Up_.”  

The hand she raised was trembling; she uncurled it, letting the bottom of her now-open palm dig into her eyes. “I’m going to bed,” she mumbled, finally turning away.  

It took Landon a second to catch up.  “Shiori-”

She didn’t turn back. 

“ _Shiori_ –“

She left her brother standing there, glasses crooked, hair unkempt and hand outstretched, for the first time in his life looking as though he didn’t know what to say.

**\--ooo--**

_Mononeko’s Dream Journal_

_2/18/XX_

_Last night that I dreamed I was sitting in a dark red room on a couch that screamed any time I left it.  There was a loudspeaker in the room.  Through it, I was told a list of things throughout the room to clean, but as time went by, the screaming of the couch was so great that I went deaf, and I was thus no longer able to hear the chores being read out to me.  Because I did not know what to do, I did not do it, and as punishment, the couch opened its great screaming mouth and ate me whole._

_The moral of the story is that there’s never an excuse for not doing as you’ve been told._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> https://gertritude.tumblr.com/post/182595537382/also-heres-the-picture-without-the-overly-intense  
> ^amelie w/out the shading
> 
> Landon: *gets shown the actual, real-life negative impact of his actions*  
> Landon: hwah… Hwat is…… Thi s …………  
> Here’s a fun fact: that Izumi/Mononeko scene was originally supposed to happen back in chapter 4 (The Killing Game), but I decided that it would be better here. Shows an escalation of seriousness, you know?
> 
> anyway, dont be surprised if the next chapter is late again. mostly because i'm still not sure how to structure it. plus for one other spoiler reason 
> 
> Next time: Everyone copes, but Landon copes worst of all.


End file.
